Cigarette Burned Stars
by berrylove
Summary: It's a challenge hardly worth Blaine's time, but he was never one to back down from a bet. The payout would be far better than he could have ever predicted. If only he could get Rachel Berry to play along.
1. I'll Take That Bet

**Title**: I'll Take That Bet 1/? (Part of: _**Cigarette burned Stars**_ verse)  
**Pairing**: blainchel  
**Summary**: Blaine had no intention of going to school let alone attend a class he knew like the back of his hand without even showing up more than once; but then again, he hadn't exactly expected to agree to a bet that he could get between Rachel Berry's legs in less than five weeks either.  
**Authors**: civillove (Blaine) & berrywarbler (Rachel)  
**Rating**: R (suggestive language, Blaine has a trucker mouth)  
**Author's note**: Like we have to explain who is who, but just in case :P Also blainchel written by blainchel means that it's the best blainchel xoxo  
**Author's note 2: **This reads in RP format because…well it's basically an RP that we're posting as fic. _You're welcome_.

**BLAINE ANDERSON:**  
Blaine hated Wednesday's.

They were worse than any day of the week, in his honest opinion. Set right in the middle, a fucking cocktease; like you made it this far into the week, now you have two days left before your inevitable freedom! He rolled his eyes as he got out of his car, slamming the door closed before opening the back seat to pull his bag out. He put it over his shoulder, the satchel hanging and pressing lightly against his thigh; he adjusted his black and worn leather jacket over his pinstriped t-shirt, chewing on his lip. He glanced around at the swarms of students heading in twenty minutes before first period even started, bouncing along in animated conversations about football or prom or something meager and meaningless.

He didn't even know why he kept showing up, to please his mother he assumed, because by this point the only class he wasn't failing was English...and that was because the teacher had a sweet spot for him. And maybe he indulged in that fact by throwing her easy smiles...and bam, he had a solid B+. It wasn't that he was stupid, actually, he could have passed all of his classes with flying colors and then some. The problem was that all of his teachers were idiots; he knew a lot more than people gave him credit for. So why, if he could put two and two together when his teachers were trying to make four out of three and six, should he show up to class? He had a lot of other things he could have been doing...

He smiled softly as he leaned against the front of his car, his black jeans pulling perfectly across his waist and thighs, as he saw his best friend approach him. Luci had bright and wild curly red hair tied back in a messy bun, some of the curls framing her pretty features, her eyes were bright and close to his own color and they seemed to sparkle when she saw him leaning against his car as he waited for her. Her fashion sense was always a bit strange to him, she had on these black jeans like he did but hers had a bunch of paint on them, purposeful bleached spots and bright red paint. Her chest was covered with a light blue t-shirt, cut up in a design on the sides, showing pieces of her skin and a red tank top revealing just a bit of her mid-drift.

"Hey B." Luci grinned at him, waiting for a group of jocks to pass before she finally made it to him. "Aren't you looking fuckable today?"

He chuckled and shrugged his one shoulder, moving to sit on the front part of his car. "I do what I can."

She hummed, leaning against to him and setting her bag down near the windshield. "Can I bum a cig? My step mom caught me smoking again and stole all my packs."

Blaine bit his lip before sitting up a little to dig into his back pocket to pull out his pack. "It'll cost you."

"I'm not sucking you off in front of the whole student body, Blaine." She teased, licking her lips however and making Blaine's cock jerk. He rolled his eyes and recovered, putting a cig in her mouth and flicking his lighter at the tip. She took a few long drags and let the smoke curl out of her lips.

"Once was enough," Blaine mused, putting his own cig in his mouth and lighting it before putting the pack and lighter away. "Too much teeth."

"Fuck you."

He grinned, taking a puff on the cigarette before letting it blow slowly out of his mouth, the burn in his lungs and throat incredibly comforting in a way. He leaned a little into Luci's shoulder and took the cigarette out of his mouth and flicked the ashes off and to the side, glancing over at her.

"We should skip."

She made a face and rolled her eyes. "Just because you skip, like, everything, doesn't mean _I _can. I've got a perfect attendance record asshole."

"I'm so impressed." He rolled his eyes. "Come on, we can get beer and pizza and go to the park."

She snorted and turned her body a little to face him, curling a hair around her ear before taking a drag off her cig. "Oh, so _hot, _you almost sold me."

Blaine rolled his eyes and sighed, looking out as the courtyard started to dwindle with the amount of students, ten or so minutes before class started. He could be late. He ran a hand through his curls, slightly gelled on his head. He watched a few students trickle through the parking lot, one or two turning their heads to look at them before they headed up the stairs into the main doors.

Luci jumped off the car and threw her cig on the ground, stepping on it to put it out. "I have to get to class, some of us want to graduate high school." She moved to stand between Blaine's legs, putting her hands on his thighs.

He sighed at her snip and turned his head to glance at a girl who was rushing from her car, dropping her bag to pick up sparkly pink pens and notebooks to match. He raised his eyebrows in interest as he was flashed her bright yellow panties, her skirt obviously too short to keep her hidden...and the fact that she didn't know there was a car with two people around her to look. He flicked his cigarette as his eyes trailed over her long legs, chewing on his lower lip as she stood, adjusted her grandma sweater and stormed off to class-not noticing he was there, getting a peep show in. He smirked and shook his head, his attention being drawn away as he felt Luci's hands on his thighs. He looked down at her.

"Will you go to class please?"

He leaned closer and blew a trail of smoke in her face. "Make me."

She huffed and pulled back, smacking him in the chest. "Asshole. Fuck you, do what you want." She reached behind him and grabbed her bag, moving to walk past him and to school.

Blaine merely smiled and finished his cigarette before trailing into school an hour late.*

**RACHEL BERRY:**  
Every day started the same for Rachel.

Wake up, run on the treadmill for a half hour, shower and dress for school, suffer through eight hours of silence and torture while enduring at least one slushie a week to the face, ballet on Tuesday's and Thursday's and home for homework and singing practice.

It became slightly less monotonous with the addition of glee club rehearsals into her schedule, fitting in time to help choreograph and choose songs for the New Directions to sing together, as well as solos she could sing to an audience who for once had no choice but to listen to her. And with Mr. Schuester choosing a different assignment every week, it offered her a slice of variety into her increasingly dull, quiet, boring life that basically came down to a tick off the calendar every day that loomed closer and closer to the end of the school year, leaving her with two more until graduation, New York and her inevitable fame.

Which was why there was absolutely no reason for Rachel to be running late today.

She hadn't overslept since she was four years old; but there was something off about the day even before it began. She could have blamed it on the weather if it had been rainy and storming out, but the sun was shining and the air was crisp for late fall, leaving her no excuse. She'd barely had time to put together an appropriate outfit for the day, and the skirt she'd thrown on before running out the door was from a year ago, at least, before she'd had a minor growth spurt and she knew it was too short but she had no time to change before her first period class.

The only positive to dropping everything in the middle of the parking lot in her rush to get to class on time was that no one was around to witness that humiliation, not that anyone would have noticed regardless. Despite her talent and occasionally overbearing personality, she was still a no one, not even a blip on the radar to anyone who wasn't in glee-or Jacob Ben Isreal, but she chose to ignore that fact.

She could only hope that her day would turn upward as soon as she got to class, but she was met with a pop quiz and an essay assignment before the lunch bell even rang, Rachel's bad mood turning from bad to worse as she slammed her locker shut. It wasn't that the courseload was hard, of course-McKinley was hardly an institute of higher knowledge if you actually had half a dozen brain cells still living in your head-but it was a detriment to her regime of preparing for her future, a future that had nothing to do with quadratic equations and everything to do with keeping to her video posting schedule every night.

But it wasn't like anyone was going to decide to come sit with her _now_ anyways, she decided as she pulled out her books to start looking over what she'd have to write her paper on. Even with the glee club, she was still the odd one out. Kurt, Mercedes, Tina and Artie seemed to have formed a clique while the Cheerio's and the football players all stuck together as tight as ever, once more leaving Rachel on her own just like she had been for the past 16 years. So she had time to get her homework done at lunch while occasionally picking at her salad her dads had packed for her, just like they still did every day while making their own lunches, engrossed in her work in an attempt to finish it as quickly as possible and not even noticing when someone moved into the chair across the table from her.

**BLAINE ANDERSON:**  
He had a headache by fourth period. He guessed he could blame that on really keeping a cigarette and coffee breakfast for the past two days. His mother was irritatingly chipper in the morning, always trying to make him pancakes or some shit she saw on the mountain loads of cooking channels she watched when he was at school. He was almost glad it was lunch; he walked into the cafeteria around five minutes late, weaving through the space of circular tables, chairs and masses of students sitting down with trays. The air was thick with cooking grease and chatter, Blaine moving to sit at his typical table that he sat with Luci. He saw her things littered across the table like always, a few sketchbooks with papers sticking out in every which way, containers full of paints and pastels and her bag half open on the chair.

"Don't get the meatloaf, it looks gross." Luci passed him, setting her tray down and sticking her hands in her pockets as she looked at him.

He sighed and set his bag down, shrugging his leather jacket off to set on the back of the chair. "If I wasn't so fucking hungry I wouldn't be touching the cesspool they try and pass as food here."

Luci picked up a crouton off her salad and popped it on her mouth, smiling slowly. "Someone's cheery today. What crawled up your ass and died?"

"I have a headache."

She leaned back into the table. "Maybe you should eat something other than cigarette ashes." She grinned, flashing him a teasing tone that he almost didn't appreciate...but it did make him smile.

He stole a french fry off her tray, taking a solid bite out of it and rolling his eyes. "Happy?"

She smirked and pulled out her chair to sit down. "Ecstatic. Go get some food I want to show you some of my sketches."

He licked his lips and crossed his arms over his chest, watching her sit down and grab one of her sketchbooks before he took her direction and went to stand in line for food. He grabbed a french fry boat and skidded past the cash register as he walked with a group of girls chattering on about prom. Easily slipping away without paying, he approached his table again and sat down next to Luci, grabbing her water on her tray to take a long sip.

"One of these days you're going to be sorry for that."

He raised his eyebrow. "For what, stealing your drink or stealing shitty cafeteria food?"

"Both," She licked her lips, taking a bite of salad before pushing her book to him. "Well?"

Blaine rolled his eyes and looked down at the sketchbook, flickering up to look at her. "Am I supposed to be amazed or some shit."

Luci glared at him. "Don't be a dickhead for once, I worked hours on that."

He shrugged his shoulder. "I have no idea why you always ask me to look at them, it's a bunch of lines and color Luc, what am I supposed to see a deeper meaning in this?"

She snatched the book away from him, rolling her eyes and muttering 'forget it' before stuffing it in the direction of his back. He smiled softly and ate a few of his french fries-she was pissed at him, which was typical, he was being an asshole. He was about to ask for the sketchbook back to look at it, because honestly, school was awful as it was, he didn't want to spend the rest of the day with her mad at him. It was more annoying than it was worth it. But then something else caught his eye to his right, a short skirt...the one from the parking lot. He was actually surprised he noticed seeing as how he wasn't getting a flash of yellow this time...but those legs, he guessed he could pick those out anywhere. The skirt was plaid, with navy and green highlights...was that a reindeer on her sweater?

"Don't waste your time."

Blaine turned his attention back to Luci. "I'm not doing anything."

"You're giving her the Blaine Anderson once over, I think I know you by now to figure out what you're doing."

He leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest. "So what if I am, she's kinda hot...in a nursing home sort of way."

She rolled her eyes and turned her head, snorting as she realized who Blaine was looking at. "Rachel Berry?" Luci crossed one leg over the other. "Like I said, don't waste your time. Her legs are so tightly closed I'm pretty sure she used super glue."

Blaine grinned at her, leaning until his face was close enough that his breath was bouncing off her cheek. "That sounds like a challenge, you know me, I _love _a challenge."

Luci turned her head, swallowing at Blaine's proximity, his stomach coiling tightly as he saw how nervous he was making her. He noticed her eyes flicker to his lips and then back up to his hazel eyes.

"She's not going to fuck you, Blaine."

He pulled back and stretched his back, rolling his neck to crack it. "Well, it's probably good that I'm not into that sort of thing. I was hoping it'd be the other way around." He smiled at her and gave her a playful wink.

Rachel Berry. It took him a minute to really consider who she was. He'd heard the name before around school-typical Lima loser, tormented by her peers for being an outcast, smart, secret kind of sexy, killer voice and she had a hard on for the main quarterback...which only made her presence at school worse because his crazy bitch of a girlfriend only made it her life mission to make her even more miserable.

"She's not going to pry her virgin legs open for you unless your name is Finn Hudson..." She looked up at him as he stood, gathering his jacket and bag.

"That sounds like a bet, Burke. I'll take you up on that."

She laughed, obviously not confident in his abilities. "Alright, you want to make this a bet. I give you five weeks. Five whole weeks to weasel your way into those panties you totally weren't checking out this morning. We can think of payoffs later."

He grinned at her, moving to kiss her cheek, whispering in her ear and enjoying the sharp audible shiver that ran through her. "It's a bet."

Blaine pulled back from her and walked over to the table, Rachel was sitting alone, her eyes glued to her tray. She barely looked up when he pulled the seat next to her back to sit down. She just flinched, which made sense, she was probably trying to prepare herself for a slushie he had seen countless people give at this damn school. It was fucking childish.

He leaned up and scrunched his nose at her tray. "If you want poisoning, I suggest you just eat a three month old cheeseburger because," He nudged her lunch. "It's the same fucking affect."

**RACHEL BERRY:**  
Rachel blanched as an unfamiliar voice greeted her, clearly willing to pass by simple things like 'hello' and 'my name is' before diving into vulgar conversation that Rachel had certainly not invited from the boy now sitting across from her.

She vaguely recalled him from around school, what little she'd seen of him anyways. A couple of the girls-and Kurt, naturally-had fawned over his stereotypical 'bad boy' image, cigarettes and leather jacket and impish grin that he was now shooting in her direction. She was sure if the glee club saw her now she'd be the subject of questioning by the afternoon, even when she didn't want to be.

"Can I help you with something?" she asked, keeping her tone clipped but polite. She didn't have anything against him, per say, except for his desire to skip class and apparently, his newfound desire to bother her while she was trying to do some of her school work. "Because I'm in the middle of a paper that I'd like to finish before the end of the day, if I can, so I don't exactly have a lot of spare time."

It wasn't exactly the truth, by any means, but he didn't need to know that. And he more than likely didn't, either. Rachel may have longed to be known, to be popular and walk around the halls on Finn Hudson's arm, but that didn't mean she was anywhere close to achieving those goals as of yet and so for the schools resident rebel without a cause-Blaine, she remembered suddenly, she was sure he was in one of her classes somewhere-to know who she was seemed like a ridiculous assumption.

"Don't you have something better to be doing right now than interrupting my studying?" she inquired after a second, raising an eyebrow in question.

**BLAINE ANDERSON:**  
Blaine felt a smile grace his lips as Rachel's confused and startled expression quickly shifted into something else as she realized who he was and that he was in fact sitting next to her and talking with some sort of purpose...she just had no idea what that purpose entailed. He had never actually spoken to her before, it had taken him a moment to recognize her, the glimpse in the parking lot (though more memorable for a specific reason) not the first time he had noticed her presence in this god forsaken place. He was pretty sure he had seen her slushied once or twice, they were kind of hard to miss. They tended to draw a crowd of amused students and worried teachers once the attack was accomplished. He hadn't laughed or joined in on the taunting, for the sheer fact that it was _below him,_ but hadn't moved to help her either. He just hadn't cared enough to. People got slushied at this stupid school, he had no idea what wet dream it accomplished but Luci had saved him from his one and only attempt to shove cherry ice in his face so he wasn't as concerned with them past the few thoughts on how ridiculous they were.

He hummed as she asked him more than once, he noted, voice shrill and unamused when her lips pursed around her questions as to what he was doing there at her table. Apparently bothering her. He licked his lower lip, her eyes still cold and unwavering as they bore into his hazel ones; not even looking once at his mouth. Interesting. Not that he was particularly cocky but he was confident in himself, years of getting what he wanted in terms of females through experience alone building up a bit of an ego in him. He noticed on more than one occasion that when he licked his lips, people were drawn to look at them like a magnet and he usually could get them to gauge what he was thinking from that simple inference.

But Rachel hadn't torn her eyes from his once and that made a little thrill work up his spine. So, Luci was right. This _was _going to be a challenge. That was perfectly alright with him. Short and easy was boring anyways.

"Oh well, you're Rachel Berry right? Upcoming Broadway star?" He smiled slowly, noticing that gleam in her eye...that amount of hope that he didn't quite understand. "I just wanted my autograph before the fame sets in, you know...I think I've got a pen...will you sign _anywhere_?" He let his hand fall to his thigh, dangerously close to the zipper of his jeans, inferring but not really, open for debate, for imagination to wander.

Blaine sat up then and set his bag on the table, reaching across her to steal a crouton from her salad. He popped it in his mouth and chewed thoughtfully, glancing down at her paper. For a quote unquote 'know it all', she really had to brush up on her Hemingway, she was misquoting the fuck out of him. He didn't say that however, there was no need to piss her off more than he already was, and simply leaned back in his chair, smiling amusingly at her as he glanced around the cafeteria.

"And to answer your onslaught of questions, no. I absolutely have nothing better to do," He looked back at her. "Hence gracing you with my presence."

**RACHEL BERRY:**  
She had to admit to being skeptical as to why he knew her name, who she was and what she wanted but maybe she wasn't as completely invisible as she constantly felt. She supposed it was possible, after all, that somewhere along the lines, in between the busy hallways of McKinley, someone might have paid any attention to her.

But there was a high probability of doubt that it was Blaine Anderson, of all people, who barely paid attention to himself. And if he did have any sort of interest in her, she wasn't naive enough to think it was anything other than physical, his light innuendo about autographs solidifying that assumption even as a slight blush crawled over her cheekbones, her fingers fidgeting with the ends of her hair before she pushed it behind her ears, intent on ignore any advances he attempted. She'd been ignoring Jacob for two years now, she had enough practice.

"Really," she replied after a moment, pursing her lips and ignoring his small attempts at diverting her attention away from his eyes, the only real safe thing-but even 'safe' wasn't a proper term, not really, because she'd never been close enough to him to really see him before. How the almost golden hue lit with laughter and amusement, how they were almost captivating in a way she would hate to admit she was falling prey to. But that was the easiest thing to fall into, she knew, and if she focused on that instead of the way he ran his tongue over his bottom lip, or how his fingers danced near the metal of his zipper on his jeans, she would never be stupid enough to fall into his trap.

"I would think earning yourself a reputation as notorious as your own would take up copious amounts of time," she said breezily, turning back to her notebook and jotting down a couple things because she wouldn't let herself get distracted by an admittedly attractive boy deeming her with his presence. "Cigarettes to smoke and classes to skip and an air of indifference that's clearly been rehearsed and cultivated for the specific appeal of being aloof, helping drag stupid girls into your clutches. Talking to me must really be putting down a few of those factors."

**BLAINE ANDERSON:**  
Blaine smirked softly and ran a hand through his curls, picking at one near his forehead and twisting it a moment before leaning back up in his chair. Her words that were meant to cut easily bounced off his armor, not even nicking the metal as she turned her attention back to her notebook. He had heard about her being high strung but Jesus Christ, her prickly presence was almost _injuring _him. Blaine wondered how long it'd been since she had a proper orgasm, surely that would take the edge off of her high pitched indignant tone. He hoped to God she wasn't like The Virgin Queen Fabray, who barely touched herself let alone let her caveman of a boyfriend slide his hands up her skirt. If Rachel Berry didn't let out her frustration through at least a few orgasms, or at least knew what the fuck she was missing from not having sex, someone to give her those mind blowing sensations without her hand doing all the work...then this was going to be much, much harder than he thought.

Putting that to the back of his mind and returning his attention back to her (she talked a lot more than she should have), he picked at another croton and leaned his elbows onto the table, watching her nervously scribble down notes in her notebook.

"It takes up an _incredible _amount of time," He mused, humoring her for the sake of doing so. "No time to update my Myspace page or rinse cherry stains out of my grandma sweaters," Blaine licked his lips and propped his chin upon his hand, the action making him look far more innocent than he was. His indifference was natural; he wondered how many times _she _had to rehearse sounding stronger than she actually felt.

"Those girls certainly weren't making discontent noises when they were in my so called clutches," He pointed to a part of her essay. "You might want to check that quote before you hand this in. I think you mean, "'Every man's life ends the same way. It is only the details of how he lived and how he died that distinguish one man from another."' He stood up from his chair and grabbed his bag as the bell rang and slung it over his shoulder. He smiled down at her and gave her a fond wink.

"As pleasant as this was, I've got to get going. Those cigarettes aren't going to smoke themselves." He put his jacket over his arm, glanced for Luci in the crowd of moving and groaning students as they threw away their lunches and made his way out of the cafeteria.

**RACHEL BERRY:**  
Rachel rolled her eyes at his jibes at her habits and unfortunate reputation around the school, though she managed to quell the instinct to defend her attire knowing it was fruitless. She was comfortable in her sweaters, even if they only served to bring her more mockery than she already was flung, and she wasn't going to change who she was just because a few high schoolers were too close minded to actually get to know who she was underneath of them.

But his correction of the quote on her notebook page startled her, and she wasn't sure why. He had to be intelligent to actually be passing high school, she supposed, especially if he was never in class. And he didn't even give her a chance to reply with a small amount of gratitude before he was gone, disappearing as quickly as he had arrived and Rachel couldn't stop herself from wondering what, exactly, that entire encounter had been about.

It was disconcerting, really, because most of the closest people she could consider in her life hardly talked to her without ulterior motives. They wanted to have her figure out everything for the glee club, from school pictures to solos and duets and what songs they were going to sing at sectional's. They didn't come and sit with her at lunch or ask her about her weekend or give her the time of day, really, aside from the occasional wave in the hallway.

Really, the only one who did pay her any attention was Finn, and she supposed that she could admit her crush had probably rooted from that in the first place. But she'd gotten to know him, and he her-the only one of them who had tried spending any sort of time with her from their club-and he was sweet, if not a little slow at catching onto things at times, and he treated Rachel with respect. There was no way Blaine would ever do that, not that she was dwelling on the concept of him ever even speaking to her again, because that would be a fruitless exercise in the first place.

Which was why, when she arrived into her science class just before the first bell rang, she was surprised to see him already sitting at one of the lab desks, leaning back in the chair and she could feel his eyes on her even as she attempted to move to the opposite side of the classroom, only to find her normal seat taken and the room seemed to fill before she could even find herself a spot, the only one open the chair next to Blaine, victorious smirk across his features and all.

**BLAINE ANDERSON:**  
"Did you seal the deal? Did you get a one way ticket to a place no man has ever gone before?" Luci teased, right next to his right ear. He had no idea how she appeared and disappeared at random but one fucking minute he'd find he was alone and then the next she was buzzing in his ear like a fruit fly.

"No," He scowled, stopping at his locker to throw his leather jacket inside. It was...Wednesday, did he have Bio next? It had been so long since he had actually stopped in... "She's proving to be harder than I realized."

"Such a poor choice of words seeing as how that's exactly what you're _not _going to be." She grinned at him, her eyes pointedly trailing to his pants.

He glanced at her, a small smile pulling at the edges of his mouth. "Cute, don't quit your day job."

"Wouldn't dream of it. Which reminds me, will you pick me up from Sheets n Things tonight when my shifts over?" Blaine turned to look at her, leaning against the lockers after he shut his own. His must have been giving her this disinterested face (he honestly had no idea why he considered them best friends when she was far too good for him) because she rolled her eyes and unclipped her hair from her bun, letting her curls run free. "I'll buy you dinner. Shitty pizza and beer at my house. Come on."

Well, he supposed he wasn't going to get Rachel to suddenly cave and come back to his place tonight on a sheer whim that he had corrected her ridiculous mistake on her essay so...free beer, pizza, maybe if he was lucky and nicer a few rough kisses with Luci...

"Sure, I'm in. Don't be late coming out this time, I'm not a damn chauffeur that waits thirty extra minutes for you to finish sucking off your coworker Mark."

She rolled her eyes. "That was one time, he traded me his hours. And at least I got something for doing him the favor...seeing as how I'm still waiting for some sort of nice payoff from sucking you."

He grinned at her. "Aw babe, are you trying to tell me my friendship is not enough?"

She shook her head, but a smile pulled at the ends of her mouth and a melodic laugh sounded up from her throat. He liked it a bit more than he should have. She went past him to head the class as the five minute warning bell rang.

"Eight PM!" He yelled down after her. "I mean it!"

She merely threw back her middle finger at him and turned the corner.

000

He had to remember what classroom he was in first of all and wow it had really been a while if he couldn't remember whether he was in lab 304 or 305. He chose the one closest to his right and knew he had picked right because the cheerleader lesbains were seated at the very first lab table near the front door and really, how could he forget that?

The class was filling up quickly, no one taking their seat next to him as he sat in the back of the class like he had expected. He really had no idea why he had chosen to show up...he guessed because he needed to complete one class today and science was far more interesting than history. He really regretted that decision when he heard the teacher mention something about partner projects until he looked up and...low and behold, Rachel Berry was walking into class with her books pressed against her chest as the final bell rang. It was like fucking fate or something, like God was giving him a green light to the inside of those yellow panties; he hadn't even remembered she was in this class...which to give him credit, he had barely realized she existed not more than an hour ago.

And he was the last seat left since she had been so late and he couldn't help but let a bright smile grace his lips as he patted the stool next to him, watching her breasts bounce softly in her sweater she stalked over to her seat, huffing as she sat down.

"Really, I'm impressed." He smiled easily, leaning closer to her to whisper as the teacher started to talk. "We talked for like ten minutes and you're already stalking me."

**RACHEL BERRY:**  
"I am not," she snapped, organizing her notebooks and textbooks into the nice piles she did for every class before taking out the simple pink one she used for biology everyday. "Unlike you, I actually show up for class every day. One could argue that it's you stalking me," she said pointedly, raising an eyebrow and glancing at him out of the corner of her eye before their teacher snapped her attention back to the front to start the lesson.

Biology was Rachel's least favorite class, if only because it required her to actually pay attention instead of getting work done for other classes or planning out extravagant choreography in her head for some number for the New Directions. It wasn't that it was hard, just more specific, dangerous if you weren't paying close enough attention. It was an ironic train of thought given who she was sitting next to; Blaine wasn't even pretending to pay attention to the class and she wondered momentarily why he had bothered to show up. She couldn't remember the last time she'd actually seen him in the room, though she'd never paid much attention before.

Unfortunately, she wasn't the only one who noticed his presence, Brittany had completely turned around in her chair to stare at them despite Santana's incessant slapping of her wrist, the Latina's own eyes trailing to them in confusion while Rachel tried to copy down the information they'd need for the project they'd be assigned-not only for the day, she realized with a groan, but at least two weeks of time with the same person.

She had a bad feeling she knew the only one who'd offer to be her lab partner, and that it wouldn't come without repercussions.

And she almost had hope as they were told that they'd be paired up alphabetically, before any hope that she could work on her project alone was dashed away for good.

"Blaine Anderson and Rachel Berry..." their teacher called out, Rachel groaning as she hid her face in her arms, unpleased with just how badly this day could possibly go before she turned to face a grinning Blaine, his smile almost too charming for his own good.

"Just because we're working together," she said, ignoring how he had moved closer to her somehow when she wasn't giving him attention, "does not mean that I'm going to put up with your sly remarks. We'll do this project because I actually need to preserve my grades and get out of Ohio, and if you don't want to work on it then I'll do it all myself."

**BLAINE ANDERSON:**  
Blaine repositioned himself on his stool, opening his bag and setting down his one and only notebook that he brought to class. He set it down and searched his bag for a pen, a bright pink one courtesy of his wise ass best friend was nestled between a bottle of water and an extra pack of cigarettes at the bottom of his bag. He pulled it out and set it down, tapping with it as Rachel accused him of being the stalker.

"Hmm," He hummed, his eyes falling down to her legs...which were perfectly revealed from her position on the stool and her very short skirt. "Maybe I am." He teased, putting the end of the pen in his mouth as he looked at the front of the room and at the green board.

Class droned on for twenty minutes, the teacher counting off the systems of the body (which of course he already knew, seriously, what the fuck was he _doing _here?) ; Circulatory, Digestive, Endocrine, Integumentary, Lymphatic, Muscular, Nervous...

He leaned back in his chair, running a hand over his face and fisting his curls before hooking his feet under the lab table so he could balance himself on to legs of the stool-he swore he wouldn't be here at all, in school in general, if he hadn't been doing this for his mother and goddamn Luci at this point. He glanced over at Rachel as she dutifully took down the teacher's notes on the board, obviously trying very hard not to be distracted by his presence. He leaned the stool forward and put his elbows on the table, glancing at a blonde cheerleader as she turned around and watched them with a childlike innocence that was hard to make fun of or even glare at. The Latina, however, apparently was not thrilled by the blonde's attention being given to them, to Blaine in particular, so she glared at them and slid her hand down her girlfriend's back to distract her.

He sighed softly and was about to make another go at trying to rope Rachel into at least talking to him when the teacher started rounding off names for projects.

Blaine smirked softly as the the teacher sounded surprised when she read his name off and actually saw him in the back of the classroom-like she had been prepared and ready to pair Rachel up with another group because he was skipping again. He smiled at her and nodded his head at the assignment, like a dutiful puppy might and considered the systems of the human body that he'd like to do the project on as Rachel groaned beside him at her predicament.

Maybe this bet was looking up if he kept getting handed opportunities like this. Before he could even speak Rachel was scolding him, mentioning that she'd be more than happy to do the project herself. Well, he couldn't have that now could he.

"Doing the project all by yourself will result in a failing grade." He smiled at her. He may not have been to class in a while but he wasn't an idiot. "And we both know you don't want that."

He sighed and clicked his pen a few times before writing down a quote he remembered from Poe in the margins of his notebook.

"We have to pick a system to explore," He turned in his stool to face her. "I don't know about you, but I vote reproductive." He smiled slowly.

**RACHEL BERRY:**  
Rachel could feel the heat blush over her cheeks at his suggestion, even if he was being as tame as she believed he could potentially be. And while she didn't particularly want to do this assignment at all, it would probably be easier to just do whatever he wanted and finish sooner rather than later.

"Fine," she said, trying to keep her tone calm and even and she was proud of herself for managing to do just that. "Only because I'm sure you'll actually participate in helping with that one."

The project seemed easy enough on it's own, some research and throwing together a paper and a small presentation at the end, but it would require teamwork and worse of all, it would require time out of class spent together. And she didn't exactly want to end up in his den of inequity, the thought of other girls who had been led there on false promises of real feelings crawling over the walls, so she took matters into her own hands once more.

"I'd rather get this over with as quickly as possible, if you don't mind," she stated, ripping out a piece of notebook paper to scribble her address and phone number on, "so we might as well work on this tonight and get as much done as we can. I have glee and ballet but after 7 I'm free, so you should come over then so we can get this over with. And I don't take well to late comers, so be timely, please," she said, smiling briefly in an almost strained way, trying her hardest to be polite while distant.

Because she knew herself too well, knew her tendency to latch onto those who gave her attention when she was so obviously desperate for it. And if she was going to be forced to spend time around Blaine, she had to remember who he was and all the rumors spread around school about him. She absolutely could not form any type of attachment to him, and she could not let herself get distracted from her school work, no matter how attractive he might have been on the surface.

**BLAINE ANDERSON:**

It was amazing to him how much people relied on the rumors that flew around school at warped speed. Everyone at McKinley had at least two or three rumors each, five if you were popular, sixteen if you were Rachel Berry, that passed between the lips and lockers of students at least twice a day. He never paid them no mind, rumors were simply that. He actually found the ones about himself amusing: that he lived alone or with his grandmother, that he was actually adopted and lived with foster parents, that he was actually alien spawn of some kind (he knew the brilliance of that one could have only come from Finn Hudson himself), that he was stupid and that's why he skipped classes, that he had gone to rehab once for drugs-so on and so forth, so many rumors so little time. None of them were true...it was somewhat frightening what a leather jacket, a few cigarettes and not the time or care to attend class and an indifferent attitude could do to one's reputation.

And he could tell, as soon as Rachel opened her mouth about meeting at her house, that that was exactly what she was thinking about. All those rumors. All those wasted words. Funny he actually suspected better from her, seeing as how she had just about as many rumors as he had, maybe even more. He felt like telling her no, that he couldn't come over, because he'd heard a rumor that her gay dads were pedifiles, see how well that went down. But decided against it for many reasons, the first was that he just didn't want to piss her off...and while hate sex was always on his kink list, something told him hate sex with Rachel Berry would somehow be more work than it was actually worth.

Blaine took the paper from her and folded it easily, standing to tuck it into his back pocket. He rolled his eyes as she mentioned that he should be punctual, the fake smile and upbeat tone to her voice making him crave a cigarette. He rubbed the back of his neck, cracking it and stretching his back before looking at her.

"Rachel, if you wanted to see how the reproductive system worked as soon as possible all you had to do was ask." He insisted with a slow grin as she squirmed on her seat. His eyes trailed over her legs, his hands itching to touch the soft skin of her inner thighs but refusing to do so. "But I thought you liked to actually put so called thought, effort and time into your projects."

He shook his head and made a tsking noise. "Stop trying to have sex with me."

He smirked and stuck his notebook and pen into his bag, closing it and the looking at her. Seven...why did seven sound impossible. Oh, right.

"I can do seven but I'll have to leave to pick up my friend Luci from her work at eight to drive her home," He drummed his fingers on his thighs. "Or we can meet at nine." He tilted his head. "When's your curfew start cinderella?"

**RACHEL BERRY:**  
Rachel pursed her lips, unable to decide if she should be offended or flattered by the nickname before deciding ultimately to ignore it. The name Luci was unfamiliar, though she was sure it was the red head that was almost always attached to Blaine's hip, the one half the school assumed was his girlfriend while the other half assured them that Blaine would never be caught dead with a girlfriend. The few times she'd seen them together, Rachel was sure that the story was at least half right-she might not _be _his girlfriend, but the moon eyed looks the girl gave him said that she definitely wanted to be.

"I don't have a curfew," she huffed, slightly annoyed. "My fathers trust me and my judgment in doing what I want and when it's for something like school work, they'll hardly be bothered. Nine should be fine, but you can't be late, Anderson. I mean it. I have a strict regime I follow and I'm already pushing it off an hour or two to get this done with."

The bell rang and Rachel stood without another word, turning to leave without so much as a goodbye. She figured it was his style, after all, he'd yet to actually greet her when arriving suddenly in her life, crashing in without warning and disrupting her day. He'd probably appreciate that she didn't care enough to officially end their conversation, and besides, she couldn't afford to be late to another class.

But it stuck in her head all day, the realization that she'd invited Blaine to her house. It carried with her through her afternoon classes and she kept messing up steps she'd known by heart half her life during glee, earning a comment from Puck that it was like watching Finn dance in Rachel's body. It was disconcerting, certainly, annoying definitely, but she couldn't shake the thought of the boy from her head all day.

She couldn't have that.

Even as she readied herself for his arrival the closer it got to 9pm, her eyes flashing to the clock every two minutes to gage if he was going to be late or not, she felt...nervous, almost, in a way she hadn't prepared for. And while her dads were out for the night, not due til late, it only made her slightly more nervous about having the boy over. Because she'd never done anything like that before, even for school work. The one time she'd had to do a history assignment with Mike Chang freshman year, they worked in the library later in the afternoon so that his friends wouldn't mock him for being around Rachel Berry of all people, even as he apologized for the cruelty she'd been enduring for years. Finn hadn't even been to her house, and he was the closest she had to a real friend at this point.

Rachel was so engrossed in making sure her room was clean, perfect and presentable and that she herself was the same, running a hand over the red skirt she'd changed into after ballet, her shirt not nearly as offending as the reindeer sweater she'd worn earlier-it was almost something she could see someone like Quinn wearing, outside of her Cheerio's uniform, not that she'd ever admit to doing something like that on purpose. But it was warmer in her house than it was at school, she reasoned, plucking at the shorter sleeves of the shirt, and she'd had time to present herself after dance class this time, and she absolutely would not think too hard about why she was doing any of that in the first place.

Until, of course, the doorbell rang, Blaine clearly not even waiting for her to answer the door as she rushed to the top of the stairs and his head poked in, a loud 'hello' echoing through the main entranceway while she smirked.

"Come on," she said, waving her fingers, "I have all my school work in my room, in case my dads come home and start singing Broadway tunes again."

**BLAINE ANDERSON:**  
It had taken forever for school to be over-he guessed that was what happened when you actually went for the entire day, from beginning to end, stuck inside one building that smelled nothing like team spirit-books, lemon cleaner, coffee and mixes of cologne and perfume, the insides of sneakers and wafts of the lunchroom; weird combinations that always made the back of his throat hurt if he breathed it in for too long. He drove home after class and peeled his clothes off, stepping into a hot shower to rinse the grime of after school special off his body. He rolled his shoulders and rubbed the back of his neck, his hand trailing down to slide over his flaccid cock resting against his thigh. He licked his lips and swallowed, lazily flicking his thumb over the head to make a strong thrill run up his spine. Unfortunately he had no time to jerk off while thinking about what was under those bright yellow panties Rachel had on today, he had to actually find something in his kitchen to eat for dinner, actually eat, find his bio book that was stashed under his bed or something, a notebook and the assignment sheet from today and pick Luci up and take her home before stopping over Rachel's.

He stepped out of the shower and changed into a pair of dark jeans and a light blue t-shirt, grabbing his leather jacket to take downstairs as he pushed his feet into his boots. He pocketed his cellphone and managed to scrounge together something that resembled a pizza, ate it quickly and attempted to try and call Cooper a few times to check in and catch up, they usually tried to keep in touch a few times a month but it was getting harder and harder to do so. They were both settling in their lives...and Blaine didn't want to admit how much that actually bothered him. Cooper was becoming too busy for him, just like his father. He guessed with living with him he shouldn't have been too surprised. Something had to run off on the eldest eventually.

He sighed and left his house, telling his mom he'd be back late as he slid on his leather jacket and got into his car, checking the time, almost eight as he drove to Luci's work. He pulled into the parking lot and not a minute or two after eight, Luci came out of the main building, untying her green apron and stuffing it into her bag. She pulled the car door open as he lit up a cigerette, opening the windows a little to let the smoke filter out.

"What kind of a place is named Sheets n Things...I mean...what does 'Things' cover, exactly?" He asked her, watching her as she buckled her seatbelt and stole his cigarette from him, taking a long drag before placing it back between his lips

Blaine took in a long drag and let the smoke slowly out of his mouth as Luci glanced over at him. "Like everything," She rolled her eyes. "We're two strawberries short of a fruit basket. Literally, we have everything...there's even a tiny food court."

He started his car, looking behind him as he pulled out of the spot before putting the car in drive and started out of the lot. He looked left before turning right and started on his way to Luci's house, listening to her drone on and on about how much she hated her job, her stepmother and something about pizza-oh fuck, pizza.

"I forgot to tell you, I can't do dinner tonight. I have a project to do for Bio," He grinned at her as he pulled into her driveway. He could literally feel the temperature dip in the car, her smile fading slightly from her face before she recovered and shrugged her shoulder. He sighed and finished his cig, flicking the butt out the window and turning to lean on his side to look at her. "Come on, you're the one who wanted me to go to a class...I did. Besides, as part of winning the bet between us, Rachel and I are lab partners."

She turned on her side and rolled her eyes. "So you're, what? Going over her house for a study party?" She gathered her things and went to get out. "Have a good time."

Blaine grabbed onto her wrist and pulled her back into the car, hooking the side of her jaw with his finger and pulling her closer to kiss her softly.

"Your jealousy is kinda hot, Burke."

She groaned, pushing his chest, a soft blush dusting her cheeks prettily. "Fuck you Anderson, you're not getting another blow job from me. Ask Rachel if you want that done." She stuck her tongue out. "If she even knows what that is." She winked and got out of the car and he shook his head and licked his lips, making sure she got inside before pulling out and driving to Rachel's.

000

Three whole minutes fucking early. Damn he was good. He didn't even want to wait for the satisfaction of Rachel opening the door for him when the door was unlocked and pushed it open, sounding a solid hello before looking up at her as she stood at the top of the steps. He nodded his head and came inside, closing the door, the comment about showtunes far too easy to make fun of for his liking. So he bit his tongue and followed her upstairs, walking into her room and raised his eyebrow at all the damn pink.

"Wow, this kind of hurts my eyes." He teased, sliding his jacket off and setting it on her bed.

He went straight to her dresser, which had a bunch of stuff that smelled like flowers in random sized and shaped bottles. His eyes flickered over pictures and awards and trophies and Jesus fuck she had a lot of time on her hands to win singing competitions five years in a row.

He stuck his hands in his pockets, turning his head to look at her and noticed she was staring. He smiled slowly and shook his head; perfect. He was probably the first damn boy she had ever had in her room. Color him _honored_.

"Where do you want to start...or did you want to continue staring at me?"

**RACHEL BERRY:**  
She didn't quite know what to do with herself. He seemed to be completely at ease, bursting into her room just like he seemed intent on bursting into her life in general, not once thinking about any potential damage he could possibly send her way. She'd already had to endure painless questioning from Santana that afternoon about what, exactly, he had wanted from her and when, exactly, she was expected to fall to her knees to quote unquote 'suck him off like the whore he probably thought she was'. It didn't matter if that's all he thought of her, because the bottom line was that she wasn't, and her dignity would just have to be held close at hand to remind anyone who questioned her again.

But still, she couldn't stop staring as he took a look around her room, commenting on the color and Rachel couldn't even come up with anything snappy to reply with, merely rolling her eyes. She hadn't had her room painted since she was born; of course it was bright and colorful and she didn't mind. It woke her up in the morning and kept her attitude and demeanor bright and cheery, most of the time, and a small comment about his head hurting wasn't the worst thing he could have said.

Him catching her staring, however, wasn't exactly something she wanted.

But he was staring too, just not at her. Her belongings, pieces of her she had hidden from the rest of the world. Her singing trophies, dance trophies and ribbons and the few pictures she had of herself, of her dads, of family vacations and she crossed her arms over her chest to examine him with a completely clear, non-biased mind. He had shown up on time, after all, and he hadn't really mocked _her_, aside from a few jabs. There was the potential that maybe he wasn't as mean as the rest, that maybe his act of not caring about anything wasn't merely an act but the truth, and that maybe-

_No, _she reprimanded, shaking her head and pushing the thought away before smiling at him. "If I was staring at anything good, I'd let you know," she jibed right back, turning to pick up her books and motioning towards her desk or bed, letting him have the option of seating as she settled herself down primly on the edge of her bed, crossing her legs and opening the text to the section they'd need for their essay. "But I figured it would be easiest to get the essay out of the way first. We can build our presentation off of that, anyways, and figure out which of us will present what parts, if we want a visual aid to go along with it..." she trailed off, momentarily distracted by how much he clearly wasn't listening to her words, his eyes continuing to run over her every few seconds.

"Blaine," she hissed, snapping her fingers in front of his face until his eyes locked with hers, "this project is worth half our grade. Maybe _you _should stop staring and pay attention."

**BLAINE ANDERSON:**  
Blaine smiled, sticking his hands in his pockets and shifting on his feet, biting his lower lip as his eyes flickered over her skirt, shaking his head before nodding to take a seat. Did she not own any pants? He was going to ask her but he figured he should let her win this one, whatever put her in the best mood was probably going to work better for him in the long run. Besides, he had the satisfaction in knowing he was right, there was no need to argue that fact with her? If she wasn't staring at anything, then why waste so much fucking time? He hadn't noticed it right away but she had to have been staring for a good three minutes. Three whole minutes of nothing good according to her; he nearly snorted. _Right_. Wasn't worth bringing up.

He took his phone out of his back pocket and sat it on the nightstand so he wouldn't sit on it and perched himself easily in the center of her bed, kicking his boots off and crossing his legs Indian style on the bright pink flower patterned comforter. He pulled his bag closer and pulled out his Bio book and notebook, drumming his pen on the spine of the book as he looked at her.

So alright, maybe it was the lighting in her room, or the fact that they were in her natural surroundings or because he hadn't gotten to jerk off before he left his house or maybe there was a lack of oxygen making its way to his brain from all the cigarettes he had started smoking but whatever the reason, Rachel Berry looked sort of hot right now. Like something that should have had a lot of boys pursuing her. And for a moment he couldn't figure out why she hadn't had a lot of dates or at least a lot guys wanting to fuck her; he didn't understand. She had killer legs and he was totally a boobs kind of guy (which Rachel was severely lacking but hey, he had to work with what he was given...an orgasm was still an orgasm) but her ass was nice and her trim waist worked with the hourglass shape she almost had. Maybe she hadn't had a lot of boyfriends or any at all but...it was still a mystery to him why he'd been the the first to try and pry her legs open.

Her voice hissing out his name got his attention and he looked up at her from tracing his eyesight around her knees. Suddenly it was very fucking clear to him why no one could get within fucking distance of Rachel Berry.

Her voice resembled a dog getting hit by a car when she was pissed off and he was pretty sure chewing on glass was more interesting than her personality.

"I was thinking about the reproductive system!" He defended, mock offence lacing his tone as he put a hand to his chest. Then he smirked. "Honestly." Because well, he had been, but he was pretty sure thinking about the positions he could have Rachel in within these five or so weeks wasn't worthy of their project.

He leaned back in her bed, his back colliding with her headboard. His shirt rose to expose his hipbones and he didn't dare fix it.

"Alright so, a paper," He hummed, getting lost in thought about what they could think about. He ended up humming a song he heard on the radio on his ride over here, quietly singing a few words before stopping. "Depends on how you want to break the paragraphs up and what you want to talk about. We could start off general and then branch it into Male and Female..." He sucked on the end of his pen. "Production of gametes, development and..." He sighed. "Diseases."

**RACHEL BERRY:**  
Rachel tried to wait as patiently as she could for him to come up with anything that had to do with the actual assignment at hand, keeping her eyes trained on his face and not the flash of skin exposed as he made himself comfortable on her bed. It was little things like that, she was sure, that had girls tripping over themselves for a chance to follow him into bed, and she was smarter than that.

Clearly not smart enough to get out of doing a presentation with him in the first place, but at least that was academic, and she could rest easy knowing he would have never come inside of her bedroom had it not been to work on school.

"That sounds like a good enough plan," she said with a nod, jotting down notes and dividing the work up into sections. "We can collaborate on each part and combine it to write the actual paper, and of course we can use our own sections to present it to the class...if you actually show up that day and don't leave it all on me, that is," she added with a small smirk.

Though, he had already taken her by surprise by even showing up and showing the slightest interest in their project, so she supposed she shouldn't count him out just yet. For all she knew, he might have even known more than she did, write essays better than she did and even be able to pull off a presentation better than she ever had-though she doubted the last one, sincerely, since every presentation was like a performance and Rachel gave no less than 110% of her soul into them.

He didn't argue with her, taking the piece of paper she'd ripped out of her notebook with his sections on to work on, and for a little while, at least, it was nearly silent while they worked on getting a good chunk of their paper done. He kept singing under his breath, probably to break the silence, but she couldn't say she exactly minded that. He had a lovely voice, after all, though she was afraid to tell him that for fear of the same mockery she'd had to endure when she tried to compliment _anyone_. Because of _course _Rachel Berry would notice nothing more than a person's talent, when that's the only thing she had going for her. Not that if she tried to compliment any other aspect of someone's personality they'd immediately slushie her, or worse. It was easier to stay quiet, keep her head down and push through whatever obstacles McKinley threw at her before she could leave.

But then he started singing a song she actually knew, and she didn't think she could actually stop herself from humming along until the words fell from her own lips too, trying to keep her attention on the notes she was jotting down and ignoring how pleasant they sounded together. Because it was even better than singing with Finn, and she had been sure nothing would ever sound better than that. But whereas Finn's voice was occasionally pitchy, lacking in true professionalism that she'd never expect from a high schooler with no training, Blaine's was smooth, even, forceful only when the song required it.

"I didn't know you could sing," she finally said quietly when they had finished the song, her eyes wide as she looked over at him. "You're really very good, you know."

**BLAINE ANDERSON:**  
Blaine didn't like when things were quiet for long periods of time. It wasn't that he couldn't take silence, because he could, it was more like when it was stretched out for hours at a time that he began to feel stir crazy. He supposed that had been ingrained him at a very early age. The quiet of his house had allowed him to hear his parents fighting, constantly, through the venting system and his father's very loud and obnoxious tone. He'd do anything to fill that silence, so he couldn't hear them anymore. Sometimes he had sung to himself or hummed very loudly, practiced the small play piano keyboard that he kept stashed under his bed, put headphones in or sometimes Cooper would come into his room and instruct him to put his hands over his ears and then put his own hands over his to block it out.

He sighed softly and noticed, after a certain point, that Rachel was humming along with him. Because then it hit him. That was it. That was how he was going to get to her. Through music, through something she was good at and enjoyed. He didn't know how he was going to do it yet but he thanked God once again (he seemed to be on his side, sorry to Luci, for this damn bet) that he was born with a pretty good set of pipes, of raw talent that hadn't been taken advantage of...but talent nonetheless. His brother had been into broadway while growing up and acting, and he had taken him under his wing...embarrassing family shows with them singing and dancing. So yeah, he could sing. He could play instruments. He could read music. And he could dance. But not many people knew that about him. It wasn't like he was going to start prancing around McKinley singing about his feelings.

Blaine glanced up at her when the song ended and she opened her mouth to speak; she had obviously noticed his voice because her eyes were wide and interested...thrilled about something he didn't quite understand. He almost wondered if she was going to causally combust or orgasm or something to let off that extreme excitement that he could see brewing behind her eyes. But instead she swallowed it, her frame relaxed and she complimented him. He couldn't remember the last time he had gotten a compliment...he wasn't used to receiving them, especially about something he didn't share with anyone else.

He also refused to get caught off guard by her. "There's a lot you don't know about me." He shrugged his one shoulder, because that was true. "Just things you assume you know."

Blaine tapped his notebook with his pen and stood up to stretch. He ignored her compliment, not knowing what to say to it anyways. Besides, since he wasn't used to receiving them there was this wall that kept threatening to shoot up between him and her, this invisible one that he usually kept at bay when he was around Luci but there was a reason he didn't get too personal with anyone, or do emotions. Emotions were just confusing, they fucked everything up. Why bother with something difficult and convoluted? He didn't want that wall to shoot up, as much as it protected him, because then his mouth was going to open to push her further away...and the last thing this bet needed was for him to be an asshole. One insult too many and she'd never speak to him again.

"Let's take a break. What do you have in this place to drink that's not water or green tea." He was shooting for coffee but she didn't look like the type that drank it...he couldn't even imagine her personality hyped on caffeine so maybe that was a good thing.

**RACHEL BERRY:**  
She watched as he walked around, a small smile on her face even as he asked for something to drink. "Well," she said, standing up as well and leading him down the stairs to her kitchen, "while we have both of those, there's also juice and probably some coffee, if you'd prefer that. My dads keep it roasting pretty much all day, for when they're stuck working late nights, so there should be some relatively fresh already brewed in the pot," she offered.

He seemed keen on that offer, and Rachel made quick work of reaching for the coffee mugs, standing on her tip toes to reach them and feeling his gaze on her back even before she turned around and caught his stare,rolling her eyes before she handed him the mug and turning to grab herself a bottle of water. It was far too late in the evening for her to even consider drinking coffee, not that she had it that often anyways, she'd always prefered tea.

"So," she said after a moment, leaning against the opposing cabinets and refusing to back down from his almost challenging gaze, "if there's so much I assume about you, why don't you clear up some things for me? After all, if we're going to be working together, it'd be a lot easier on both of us if we could at least get along. And while we're both running on presumptions and relying on the rumor mill, that's clearly not going to work in our favor."

She took a deep breath, aware she was rambling and fighting off a nervous chuckle even as it seeped out anyways, looking down at the water bottle in her hand. "I just mean...I'm not saying I expect us to be friends, or anything, but it would be nicer to at least be civil to one another. And not lace every other sentence with an innuendo," she added with a raised eyebrow in his direction.

**BLAINE ANDERSON:**  
Blaine leaned onto the counter of the island table in the center of the kitchen, thumbing at pieces of mail near the corner. Something caught his eye that looked like a catalogue for kitchen supplies and he pulled it towards him to flip through it as Rachel walked around her kitchen to get him a cup of coffee. Thank God. He had been craving a cigarette for the past hour and he somehow figured whatever was sparking between them would be ruined if he took a break to smoke. He could tell just by the way she had mentioned it at lunch that she didn't approve of him smoking-not a lot of people did. Luckily, Luci didn't care and often joined him in on buying packs and shotgunning. Coffee would at least curb his craving for the rest of the duration of his time here.

He sighed softly as she reached up to get a mug out of the cabinet, her skirt lifting from the back as she did so. He shook his head; how was someone a tease when they had no idea. The girl had probably had been barely kissed properly and here she was, nearly flashing him her underwear again. He wondered if she had changed everything between school and then...like he had went home and gotten a shower. Did she still have one those bright yellow panties? Or maybe they were pink this time, maybe even red. The thought made something hot and tight coil in his lower belly.

When she caught him staring she rolled her eyes and honestly, he shrugged his shoulders and just took the mug from her...what did she expect when she was prancing around her house in a short skirt and almost flashing him while getting a coffee mug down.

He took the sugar she provided and stirred in a few spoonfuls, adding cream and stirring again, letting the steam rise and curl, tickling his nose as he leaned against the counter again, the muscles in his arms flaring as she leaned against the cabinets with her bottle of water. His smile faded a fraction as she suggested they get to know eachother. Was he seriously going to have to tell her every nook and cranny of his personal life for her to let her goddamn guard down? Was this really worth a damn bet that essentially had no payoffs at this point? He blew on his coffee, his eyes never leaving hers. She was challenging him, he could feel it. And to hell with her if she thought he'd back down from a challenge. A few personal tidbits to outweigh the rumors couldn't hurt...

He smirked softly at the mention of lace. Honestly. If she wanted him to stop using innuendos, she had to stop making it so fucking easy for him.

Blaine bit his tongue hard and let it slide. "I make no promises," He said instead, running his fingers through his un-gelled curls. "but sure, I'll clear up some misconceptions." He picked and chose which classy high school rumors that he'd heard about himself that he wanted to correct.

"I've never been to jail, I'm not an idiot...I actually know a lot more than most of those hackjobs in classrooms try to teach the rest of our..." He chose his words carefully. "_Peers_ and that's why I don't come to class. I live with my mom, I'm not a ward of the state...or in a foster family. I don't live in a trailer park or in some dingy alley or back hotel. I actually live near the Fabrays." He knew that would at least give her an idea, he lived in a nice neighborhood, with garden gnomes and white picket fences and mailboxes at the ends of driveways that all looked the same. Cookie cutter neighborhoods, he liked to call them.

His eyes traced over her face as he took a sip of coffee, not willing to share anything else. That was enough. That was more than was needed, actually. Now, at least, she could get a general picture of his personality vs. what the school was portraying and while he didn't really give a shit about much there were a few things that he _did _care about.

**RACHEL BERRY:**  
She nodded, letting the information seep in. Half of the rumors spreading through the glee club about him seemed ludicrous, the only other person who seemed to be on her side of that argument was Puck because according to him, no one could be a bigger bad ass than he was. She doubted that was true, because try as he might, Puck was actually genuinely sweet underneath his hard exterior. Their brief foray into dating had shown her that much.

"I assumed you were smarter than most of the school seems to think you are," she said, leaning against the island counter and fiddling with the water bottle in her hands. "It takes a fair amount of brains to be as quick on his feet as you seem to be, after all. And it's really not that hard to pass McKinley, the school hardly passes as a challenge. My dads wanted to move so I could go to Carmel, get a better education and be a part of a winning machine with Vocal Adrenaline but..." she shrugged, not sure what her allegiance was to the New Directions when they hardly had one for her. "I don't want to be a cog in the machine. I'd rather be the star, and as long as Andrea Cohen and Jesse St. James are attending Carmel, I'll never get their spotlight. Not like the one I have here."

She knew how that sounded, that she wasn't helping herself at all. But she was exactly whatever McKinley saw her as: shallow enough to fall for the schools quarterback, the only one who didn't know was Finn himself; power driven and determined to become a star; attention hungry and overbearing to the point of obnoxious. She tried, harder than people might have realized, but she had never had the same advantage of others. Kurt, as driven and obnoxious as he could be, was at least social enough to be liked, despite his tendency towards nasty comments and stalking of the boys he liked.

She could be sweet as pie, she figured, and people still wouldn't be willing to look past her ego and self inflamed narcissism just because she knew exactly how good she was. It was her biggest flaw, she was sure, because all of the others that ate away at her hindered on that one thing. It was also what was going to push her farther than anyone else she knew in the long run.

"Not that I think there's anything you actually want clarified on me, or what you even have heard about me, if anything but...you can feel free to inquire about anything you need clarified, if you want."

**BLAINE ANDERSON:**  
He watched her take in what he was saying, could see the cogs turning in her head, filtering out bullshit she had heard about him as he replaced it with accurate information. There was something burning in her eyes...acceptance maybe. Whatever. He didn't need or want her approval. But he figured it'd be easier for her to come over his house now that she knew he didn't live anywhere dangerous or even remotely sketchy.

Blaine shook his head and absentmindedly stirred his spoon in his cup as she rambled on about Carmel and the lack of educational value at McKinley...though she really wasn't helping her rumored reputation when she said she hungered for the spotlight. Though he could tell that by just the way she spoke about it. She didn't even strive to be perfect because she was perfect, in her opinion, in terms of her voice. She was bloodthirsty for solos and competitions for the sheer fact that she thought she deserved to win at both of them. He didn't comment on that. It was nice to be passionate about something...Luci was the same in the way she loved and breathed her art...but sometimes that sheer passion could consume someone. And he had no doubt that Rachel would walk over someone's dying body for a solo and a free ticket to one of those fancy performing art schools in New York.

He shifted on his feet and took another sip of coffee, savoring the taste as it burned his tongue and the back of his throat when he swallowed. He sighed softly and drummed his fingers on the countertop as she asked if there was anything that he wanted clarified.

Blaine shrugged his shoulder and shook his head. "I don't give too much credit to rumors." And that was true. Whether he could gage by her personality that she was passionate, a little bit crazy, lovesick, cut throat, sad and lonely borderlining pathetic-he knew to discredit rumors that said ridiculous things like she was a trannie or that her fathers were pedafiles. "You don't need to discredit anything because I tend not to believe things floating around school, so don't worry about."

He smiled slowly. "Your reputation is startlingly pure in my book, Miss Berry."

**RACHEL BERRY:**  
Her nose crinkled in slight disgust at the implications of his words, not missing the hidden meaning behind them. She was innocent, perhaps, but not as naive as people seemed to think of her. It wasn't even that she was completely disgusted by sex and the acts that came with it-she was human, after all, with her own musings and desires just as any other red blooded girl would be. She just didn't believe in acting on them with someone she wasn't completely head over heels for, and the only one who seemed close to fitting that bill was Finn.

But Finn was busy with Quinn and babygate, trying to figure out how he'd become a father so young and while her heart ached for him, she wasn't about to get into the middle of that anymore than she already had. She was trying her best to move on from the quarterback, even if it was failing, miserably, but that didn't mean she was about to pull a Santana either and jump into bed with the next person who glanced at her.

"That's because my reputation is pure," she retorted, grinning back at him. "Aside from the possibility of rumors about my pining over Finn and the sheer number of slushies I've received in the past year and a half, I've done nothing to warrant a reputation at all."

**BLAINE ANDERSON:**  
He rolled his eyes and stood from his chair and moved to stand directly across from her, leaning back against the counter. He nursed his cup of coffee and licked his lips, finishing his coffee before moving to hover over her shoulder, his body nearly pressed to hers as he put the cup into the sink and ran water in it before pulling back. He crossed his arms over his chest and raised his eyebrows at her statement.

"I wouldn't say that," He ran his fingers through his curls. "And please, your so called pining over Finn isn't a rumor, don't try and bullshit me Berry. If anything, that's the only true thing floating around about you."

He stuck his hands in his pockets and watched her, there was a slight pink to her cheeks now, a blush that might have found cute if he gave a shit about things like that.

"You don't need some special x-ray vision glasses to see through your apparent attraction for him...though I honestly don't see how you can be attracted to someone with an IQ matching a lime but hey...we all make mistakes." He winked at her, smirking as he could literally see the anger build up in her face, her cheeks reddening.

Now _that _was hot.

**RACHEL BERRY:**  
"You don't even know him!" she snapped, unable to help the fuming anger that consumed her. Finn was a good person, he didn't deserve half the things the rumor mill put him through. She'd heard some of the worst of it, but it wasn't like anyone would ever listen to Rachel Berry with her incredibly obvious crush. Even Quinn knew of it, and she made sure to give Rachel hell of it anytime she could.

"It doesn't matter what my feelings for Finn may or may not be," she argued, glaring at him even as she tried to take a step back from him, unsure as to when he had gotten so close or why she hadn't pushed him away the second he had, her back hitting the counter behind her even as he took a step closer to her. She felt like she couldn't breathe with him right there, too close in her space to remember what her argument was while cigarette smoke and soap wafted off of his skin, permeating the air around them. "Finn is a good person," she started again, trying to remember where she had left off, "he tries his hardest and he's sweet and caring and he's twice the man you could ever hope to be. If you knocked up a girl, I bet you'd run in the other direction, but he's sticking to Quinn's side and trying to help her the best he can!"

"Even if my crush on him is incredibly transparent, nothing is going to come of it and I'm not some stupid girl who thinks it will. I've gone out with other boys; Noah Puckerman and I may have only dated for a week but that's only because he's hopelessly in love with Quinn and he knows I have a thing for Finn. I have options, Blaine, ones that aren't Finn Hudson or _you_. Now please, you're crowding me and I don't feel like I can breathe anymore," she finished, her voice not nearly as convincing as she would have liked it to have been towards the end.

**BLAINE ANDERSON:**  
Blaine couldn't help the grin that decorated his features as Rachel snapped at him, a small thrill running up his spine and spinning inside his stomach, warming lower, lower, _lower_. Her anger may have been fucking irritating, this indignant tone that made her sound stuck up and obnoxious but the way her cheeks flushed, her pupils blown, voice strained, determined, felt it with her entire body-he bet that was kind of what she looked like just before she came.

He shook his head, leaning up from the island; his arms coming to rest on either side of her as he moved closer, creating a cage around her body.

"I want you to think long and hard about everything you just said, okay? Because...regardless if he's a good person, he's a fucking dumbass. Granted, I know neither of you know a lot about sex," He smiled down at her. "But I'm pretty sure you know you can't get pregnant from a _hottub_...or at least I hope so, otherwise I'm going to have to add an 'experiement' to the end of our project on the reproductive system."

He snorted as she let out a disgusted noise and pushed him back from crowding her. He let her and leaned back against the island again, adjusting his rumpled shirt and shrugging his shoulders. He bit his lip and opened the fridge to get out a water for himself and unscrewed the cap to take a long sip.

"Finn Hudson or me, wow, what a bunch of choices," He threw her a grin. "At least I know how my sperm works." He rolled his eyes and went past her to go back upstairs to continue working on their project. "I'll add it into my last paragraph of my paper!" He laughed softly as he went up the stairs.


	2. Don't You Want Me

**Title**: Don't you Want Me? 2/? (Part of: _**Cigarette burned Stars**_ verse)  
**Pairing**: blainchel  
**Summary**: In his attempts to lure rachel into helping him win his bet against Luci, Blaine takes prime advantage when he stumbles across Rachel rehearsing alone.  
**Authors**: civillove (Blaine) & berrywarbler (Rachel)  
**Rating**: PG-13  
**Author's note**: Like we have to explain who is who, but just in case :P Also blainchel written by blainchel means that it's the best blainchel xoxo  
**Author's note 2: **This reads in RP format because…well it's basically an RP that we're posting as fic. _You're welcome_.

**RACHEL BERRY:**

Despite what she may have said otherwise, Rachel was definitely not moving on from Finn. In fact, she only seemed to be drawn more to him in an almost subconscious effort to stay away from Blaine. It wasn't that she minded his company, exactly, but more so that the more they worked together on their project, the more time she had to notice little quirks she spent too much time over analyzing.

But Blaine was a wildcard, something she was determined to stay away from, and even with Quinn and her pregnancy Finn still felt safer. More secure. A better option. And Blaine's words nagged at her more than she would have liked to admit, how there wasn't any biological way Finn was the father if all they had done was mess around in a hot tub. Eventually, she was sure, the truth would come out and Finn would turn to her when it happened.

Not that she wasn't trying to help save Quinn too in any attempts she could to keep the glee club running smoothly. Rachel may have been self involved and overly dramatic, but she did have some compassion in her bones as well, and she did want to help the poor girl as best she was capable of. There was no way she'd be able to comprehend exactly what she was going through, but that didn't mean Quinn should have to go through the ordeal of a teenage pregnancy alone.

But she couldn't let go of the lingering feeling that lay underneath her growing friendship with Finn. How he had taken her on a date, even if it was bowling and she had been atrocious at the sport, he had kissed her and she knew that he had done all these things while Quinn was still in the picture, but that didn't taint his image enough for her to walk away completely. She could bide her time, sing duets with him, and win him over the only way she knew how.

Which was why she was in the choir room an hour and a half after school let out, when the only students there were either in sport practices or detentions, running over steps in a dance she would have to eventually teach Finn to try and wow the glee club with. She wanted them to sing a duet to Sectional's together, the song well within their vocal range and it made their voices blend together beautifully, harmony and melody sweeping Rachel off her feet the few times they'd run through it before he disappeared for football practice.

"_You're a great teacher,_" he had told her before disappearing, goofy grin on his face that left butterflies in her stomach and a smile just as ridiculous on her own features as she ran through the song still an hour later, singing quietly under her breath to the music she had playing quietly in the background. She felt silly, honestly, the school girl crush was getting wildly out of hand, but when no one was around-

Except, she realized as she spun around mid-song, she wasn't, and the glint of amusement in Blaine's eyes said that he had been there longer than a few seconds even as she stilled herself, her body tensing automatically.

"What are you doing here so late?"

**BLAINE ANDERSON:  
**For whatever reason, things had been going surprisingly well with Rachel. He wasn't sure who exactly who was looking out for him, but if things kept going as smoothly as they had been, he'd have her on his bed moaning his name within two weeks. He was willing to bet on that bet. Ever since that night at her house they had worked on the project for a few more days before Rachel had to put a break in their concentration; she had Sectionals or some shit to worry about and Blaine wasn't going to get in the middle of that. She was increasingly scary when she determined to do something and if she wanted to focus on her little rejects club and put a break on their project (which was already half done and it was due in like...three weeks) then that was fine by him. Absence made the heart grow stronger or some shit like that.

And he could tell that while he may not have completely gained her trust a hundred percent yet...she was at least starting to genuinely like him.

He didn't know how he was exactly going to work his way through to her when she was busy but he figured she'd have to let up at some point and work on their project again. He wasn't exactly used to being patient but he guessed if he had to bide his time for the greater good, then he'd do it.

"How many more of these do I have to haul out of here?" Blaine grunted as he turned in the parking lot, balancing one of Luci's giant canvases in his arms as he went to her jeep.

She chuckled. "'That's the last one, I promise." She adjusted a few more in the back before he slid the one in his arms in between the other paintings in the back. He brushed his hands off his jeans and closed the door, smiling at her.

"You starting an art gallery?"

She scrunched her nose. "No, it's for my final project, I've been working on them all semester, they're almost done."

"All semester for a bunch of lines and splashes of paint?" He scoffed. "I'm surprised, Burke, I expected more out of you."

He snorted as she pushed him, knocking him gently into the trunk of her jeep. He quickly wrapped his arm around her and drew her close, merely for the way her eyes widened and her breath caught in her throat; she settled loosely against his body, long enough for him to tuck a random curl around her ear. She swallowed, her eyes tracing over his jawline as his arm squeezed her waist.

"Do you want to come over later? Have that dinner you agreed to a few days ago?"

His eyes traced over hers before he let her go, shrugging his one shoulder before patting his back pocket to check for his cigarettes.

"What time?"

"Nine?" She asked, biting her lower lip and avoiding his gaze.

"Sure...but I don't want any cheap beer like the last time, that shit made me sick for two days."

She grinned up at her, her complexion back to normal, like her pupils hadn't been blown, cheeks pink, demeanour shot in half a few moments ago. "It's not my fault you're a lightweight."

"Fuck you," He threw her the finger and sighed. "Shit, I forgot my bio book in my locker. Something tells me the bet isn't going to be won if I contribute a failing grade to Rachel's pristine record."

She rolled her eyes. "That's not all that's pristine."

He smirked and pulled a curl on the side of her face, watching it bounce. "Not for long, anyways. I'll see you later." He gave her a wink and turned to head back into the building.

Blaine turned down the hall and heard music start up and slow and then restart all over again, the same fucking tune bleeding his ears along with a beautiful voice, slightly more composed than usual, obviously practicing and in a certain headspace. He smirked as he hesitated by the choir room, leaning against the doorway and crossing his arms over his chest as he watched Rachel run through a routine, her eyes nearly closed in concentration...until they open and landed on him.

She nearly jolted in spot, he'd obviously startled her. He raised his eyebrows as she asked him what he was doing there so late.

"I was watching the show," He gestured to her and the room as he stayed in his position against the doorframe. "Or, oh do I have to pay? Donate a five to the glee club's awful costume ensembles?" He smirked and bit his lower lip, glancing around the room for a moment before looking at her. "What are you doing here practicing all by your lonesome? Did bigfoot have to head out early to take care of someone else's spawn?"

**RACHEL BERRY:  
**"Don't call him that," she said automatically, a reflex of sorts to defend a boy who wasn't even her own. "_Finn_ is in football practice, and I told you-Sectional's is coming up. We still don't have anyone set to do a duet and Finn and I would be perfect for one to help us win," she explained as the song started up again on the radio sitting atop the piano, the same tune she'd been singing all afternoon that would undoubtedly be stuck in her head all evening playing up again.

"Now, unless you're going to _help _and make a proper contribution to my future, can you go back to doing whatever it is you do in your spare time that's not around me?" she snapped, trying to get back into her mindset, licking her lips and turning her back on him while trying to tune into the song Mr. Schuester had assigned to them back when the glee club was split in half.

It was easier, she had decided when landing upon 'No Air', because Finn at least knew the song, liked it enough that he could put energy into it, and she had tried to rearrange it to give it a little more 'umph' enough that they could dance instead of swaying and staring at each other longingly as they had when it was just them and Quinn on stage.

But she could hear Blaine laughing from the doorway, her eyes closing as she exhaled loudly, trying to calm herself. She didn't like when people interrupted her rehearsing, when they _laughed _while she was trying to practice, though she had a feeling he wasn't laughing at her so much as the situation. He had made his opinion of Finn quite clear, and of her pathetic love for him even clearer, and annoyance bubbled under her skin as she turned around to snap at him.

"Fine," she seethed, "if you think this is such a _joke_ why don't you do better, then?"

**BLAINE ANDERSON:  
**Blaine snorted, covering his mouth with his hand as Rachel nearly jumped to protect Finn, like a lioness jumping to bite off his head for threatening her youth. How sickeningly sweet. "Oh and by perfect you mean you have no hope whatsoever...so you're using Finn Hudson?" He smiled softly. "Right it's genius, _perfect _one to help you win...if you're sure his brain can send signals to his feet fast enough while at the same time he remembers the lyrics to the song."

He put his hands up in defeat, however, when she looked back at him before turning her back on him completely...because he was pretty sure she could decapitate him with that sheet music in her hands if she was determined enough to do so. This was Rachel Berry he was talking about.

Blaine watched her start humming, swaying a little to the tune of the music as she put her concentrated headspace back into focus; he shook his head and bit his lip to stop laughing. Christ, the images of Finn-tall, bulky, uncomfortable, fucking awkward like he was dancing around with shit in his briefs, trying to touch Rachel and _mean _it, have his hands follow the perfect contours of her body, fingers digging into her sides, spinning her on key, leaning into her, making her breathless, completing those lines with her and drawing out the most perfect fucking sounds-

it was a goddamn travesty.

"Please stop..." He said at the same time she snapped out a 'fine' at him, her hands on her hips as she turned to face him, glare fully set in place. "It's just so...sad and pathetic, this _song," _He rolled his eyes. "'Tell me how I can breathe with no air?' brilliant, I'm telling you, such a hard fucking question. This song will not win you jack shit."

He went through the choir room and leaned onto the piano, picking up sheet music that was stacked, flipping through each of them. He made a face at most, seriously...what era were they fucking _in_ and then came across gold.

"This one," He grinned, turning around and looking at her. "I may not know a lot about...whatever the fuck you were just doing in here but I know a hell of a lot about chemistry...and that you need it when you perform. If you don't have that then you're going to fall flat, it doesn't matter if you do vocal tricks while jumping through rings of fire...and let's face it, Finn Hudson...that's like having chemistry with a _toaster_."

She snatched the sheet music out of his hand and made a vulgar face.

He shifted on his feet, leaning back onto the balls before rocking forward, sticking his hands in his pockets. "What's the matter...'don't you want me'?" He smiled slowly.

**RACHEL BERRY:  
**Her mouth quirked in what might have been a smile from anyone else, his play on words not lost on her. So he wanted to show her just how useless Finn was, fine, but Finn was still the one she'd be singing with on stage. There was no way Blaine would ever dream of joining the glee club, and she wasn't going to waste her breath asking him to. Even if, from the brief few moments that she'd heard him sing, he had shown potential to be better than Finn could hope to be.

"If you knew about chemistry, maybe you wouldn't be repeating the tenth grade," she taunted, his eyes narrowing slightly before she shrugged, slipping in a different disc to the cd player and placing the old one in it's proper location. "Come on then," she said, snapping her fingers and demanding he step away from the piano, the upbeat tempo automatically causing her hips to sway slightly, and she forced her face to show passive indifference as he started in on the first verse, trying for all her might not to give into him too easily.

But it was harder, as he circled around her, not actually touching her but coming close enough that she could feel his body heat surround her, her eyes closing even as her part kicked in, singing along automatically as if it was imprinted in her soul to sing regardless of the situation, and she was sure that was probably the case.

She tried to step away from him, but his fingers locked around her wrist to keep her closer, and she narrowed her eyes as the second verse started strong, wrenching her arm away from his grasp with a coy smile as she spun away from him, falling into the performance a little too easily for her liking. Because when she thought about it like that; a performance, just something she could act her way through, it was easier to breathe, to play into his games and let him into her personal space more than she'd ever allowed before.

His point was proven, and in spades, unfortunately, because there was a certain chemistry she seemed to lack with Finn in their performance. She was almost giddy with excitement, at the prospect of having someone who could sing, dance, act like this with her, even if in the back of her mind she knew it wouldn't last. But for a few moments, at least, she could pretend, maybe, _almost_, that Blaine was something with potential.

**BLAINE ANDERSON:  
**He rolled his eyes about her quip about chemistry, knowing damn well that wasn't sort of the chemistry he was talking about. Blaine felt a small smile grace his lips, moving to take her hand and spin her as the music started up but she easily evaded his grasp, sliding her hips to the beat before he took the first verse right out from under her. He felt like telling her that he had no problem with chemistry before the song started (he couldn't really blame her for being eager to get started either, she probably already knew just from the few notes that he had sung in his room that he was damn well _better _than Finn Caveman Hudson); how many times did he have to tell her that he was only repeating the tenth grade because he hadn't gone to class.

Words easily flowed from his mouth, his tone hitting the notes perfectly as he spun around her, close enough to touch but never doing so. His hands hovered near her hips, fingers grazing her forearms as she spun out of reach. He smirked as she picked up the second verse, her voice melodic and gorgeous to his ears. She really was talented-amazing to him, seeing as how she could sound like a cat screeching when she was pissed off. He bit his lip before their voices joined for the last chorus, the perfect blend of their sounds filling the entire choir room and echoing in their ears when the song ended. He had managed to hook his arm around her waist to pull her against him, his hand splayed against her lower back, their chests nearly knocking together as they breathed rather heavily from putting everything they were, all of their energy into the very last notes.

He smirked as Rachel pushed him away, taking a bit longer to do so (as he suspected it would). She looked starry eyed, like she had swallowed an entire solar system and now there were constellations sparkling in those big wide brown pools. Blaine licked his lips and stuck his hands in his pockets, shrugging his one shoulder, his point long proven.

"Good luck getting Finn to put that much effort into it..." He licked his lips and smiled softly. "Though I'm warning you, you're going to have to teach him how to sing and move those clodhoppers he calls feet at the same time." Blaine ran a hand through his curls and leaned back against the piano, picking up another music sheet to look at.

He wondered how many times he'd have to do this, how many times he'd have to sing in a fucking circle and try and discreetly settle his hands on her waist to spin her to get her to trust him enough. Though, he supposed the end result would be worth it, winning a bet, getting her between his sheets and making her call out his name.

Blaine licked his lips. "We have to finish our project...I know this glee club takes up so much of your time because of the band of degenerates it has seemed to attract but...don't forget about it. We still have a lot to do yet, I'd hate to leave our class uninformed about the reproductive system." He teased, smiling slowly.

**RACHEL BERRY:  
**She merely rolled her eyes at his insult towards Finn; it was grating and irritating but she was starting to learn that maybe he was never going to stop knocking him down anytime he could. It didn't matter what Blaine thought about Finn, because just as Rachel barely knew Blaine, Blaine knew _nothing _about Finn.

"He's a quick learner," she replied casually, shrugging her shoulders while restacking a pile of sheet music. "At least, when it's him and I he learns quickly. He picked up the moves to _Don't Stop Believin'_ fast, after all, once Mercedes stopped yelling at him for stepping on her foot every few minutes..." she trailed off, chewing on her bottom lip before shaking her head, clearing the memory away so she could focus on what he was reminding her of.

"_I _won't forget," she snapped, starting to fall back into her skin and normal attitude of general disdain towards Blaine. There was a difference between tolerance and liking a person, she had decided when her feelings towards Blaine had changed from general indifference towards severe caution and finally settled on something akin to being able to stand being around him in small doses, though the hours they were putting into their project required his presence more than she might have wanted.

But they were making good progress, which was why she had let the project slip her mind for a couple of days to focus on what, in her mind, was far more important. Sectional's was their only shot, after all, to be considered a real team, to keep their choir room and to help plump Rachel's applications to colleges in a couple years time.

"Besides," she continued after a minute, trying to focus on the papers in front of her instead of how close he still seemed to be hovering, "I highly doubt you'd let me forget about spending time with you while discussing the reproductive system," she smiled innocently at him, "I'm not that naive after all."

**BLAINE ANDERSON:  
**Blaine shook his head, far too amused that she actually thought Finn would be able to gather his shit together enough in time for their competition enough to be called _decent_. It was a pipe dream, a combination of hope and arousal for a tall, bulky, dim witted quarterback. Just because Finn may or may not have been talented didn't mean he could string together notes and steps and remember it for more than five minutes in front of a huge crowd with an increasing amount of pressure. He just didn't see it happening. Didn't consider it plausible.

He had no idea what her not forgetting it was going to do for Finn. So what? If he forgot his words, tripped over his own feet-her remembering everything would make up for that? He didn't see where she was going with it but he figured she was trying to make some sort of point that was rushing over his head. Her indignant attitude amazed him. As much as he was developing a disdain for her holier than thou attitude, he swore to god she was developing some sort of complex, but he couldn't deny that she had a set of pipes on her, an incredible power behind her voice. She made you feel through her singing. It was something any person with a hint of musical talent would envy.

But, he smiled softly and shook his head again, _naive_? She was the poster child for naive; he was pretty sure there was a picture of her face under the word in the dictionary.

"Not naive, hmm?" He laughed and crossed his arms over his chest. "Could have fooled me, the way you follow Finn Hudson around like a puppy dog in heat. The way you think he's going to leave his pregnant girlfriend to you, commit social suicide by staying in this damn club. You give him too much credit," He smiled and leaned closer to her, his face hovering that if she moved a fraction they'd touch. "That makes you," His breath fanned her face. "Incredibly naive."

**RACHEL BERRY:**

There was nothing she hated more than when Blaine got too close. It felt like air was being sucked from her lungs, like she couldn't breathe, and there was no reason he should have had that effect on her. And she couldn't even pull away, stuck between him and the piano and she questioned how she continually got herself into these situations, how she let him work under her skin until all she saw was red.

"I didn't expect Finn to leave Quinn for me," she snapped, her voice quiet while she tried to simply breathe in and out at a normal pace, tried to ignore how hard her heart seemed to beat inside her chest whenever his face was that close to her. "That's ludicrous. Finn is a good guy, and he loves Quinn." It was a hard pill to swallow, admitting that, but she knew it to be truth. She was sure that even if the truth of the paternity of Quinn's baby came out, Finn would probably stay with the blonde.

And if he didn't-well, Rachel was right there, second best and settling for hoping that would work in her favor.

"I don't give him too much credit," she said, continuing on simply to avoid silence while he was still so close to her, she could smell the nicotine on his breath, "you don't give him enough. You think he's the dumb jock, but he's more than that. I would think you of all people would know that appearances are hardly everything."

**BLAINE ANDERSON:  
**He may have been making her uncomfortable by nearly backing her into the piano but he could tell that even though she looked like she wanted to knee him in the groin that he was right. Or at least partly so, the part of her that wouldn't give Finn any credit for being a dumbass. That part of her was already Blaine's-he could basically stamp his name on it; now all he had to do was wrangle in that other half of her, that part of her attached to Finn's oversized hip. The part of her that hoped for more flirting with a dimwitted counterpart that didn't know how his sperm worked.

How utterly charming.

"I'm giving him more than enough," He scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Trust me, giving him any more would be a disservice to my common sense."

Maybe Blaine just didn't get the concept of being a completely good person without insuring some kind of compensation or ulterior motive for himself. Not that Rachel was completely selfless in this situation. He could see right through her intentions, could see what she wanted out of this whole thing like it was printed in dark ink along her skin.

He took a step back from her and rolled his eyes, trying to figure out if this was even worth it or not. Jesus Christ he needed a cigarette. He patted the pockets of his jeans for a moment as he shifted and looked at the time, wondering how long he had until he had to meet Luci for this damn dinner she kept hassling him about.

Blaine glanced down at her and smirked. "For someone who walks around this cesspool of a school with her chin held high, basically demanding respect you're sure as hell not holding up your end to get people to deliver it to you." She looked confused, and somehow repulsed by his closeness, which only made him smile-but he figured he was striking some sort of nerve deep inside her that made him certain she knew what he was talking about.

"You and I both know that you're not second best. That you don't settle for second choice...so _what _are you doing?" He asked, his hazel eyes trailing over her face, not really expecting an answer.

Blaine smiled a little at her, almost genuine, before he shook his head and handed her the sheet music he had been flipping through before turning to leave.

"Good luck rehearsing with Finn," He stopped and turned at the doorway and grinned. "Although at this point it might be best to get a trained monkey, at least you'd have a higher percentage of a chance at winning sectionals."

He laughed when she tried to throw sheet music at him and waved his hand in the direction of her as he turned to leave. She could throw things at him and glare all she wanted. At least they both knew he was right.


	3. Too Easy

**Title**: Too Easy 3/? (Part of: _**Cigarette burned Stars**_ verse)

**Pairing**: blainchel

**Summary**: Rachel's resistance wears thin when she see's a new side to Blaine she hadn't been prepared for.

**Authors**: civillove (Blaine) & berrywarbler (Rachel)

**Rating**: PG-13

**Author's note**: Like we have to explain who is who, but just in case :P Also blainchel written by blainchel means that it's the best blainchel xoxo  
**Author's note 2: **This reads in RP format because…well it's basically an RP that we're posting as fic. _You're welcome_.

**RACHEL BERRY: **

There was absolutely no need to speak to Blaine ever again.

This was one of the perks to finishing their project, to presenting it in front of the entire class-including a startlingly avid Brittany and curious Santana. They'd passed, with a perfect score, they'd gotten through the presentation with no innuendos made and only the smallest hint of a smirk on his features and the end of their presentation should have marked the end of their strange and confusing tête-à-tête. But somehow he kept circling around her regardless, sitting next to her in their biology class regardless of the fact that she tried to switch locations, smirking at her from down hallways when he was actually found loitering in them between classes.

It was unnerving, to say the least.

What was more unnerving was the fact that Rachel couldn't seem to just _avoid _him.

She wasn't even trying, in all honesty. She knew her way around the school like the back of her hand; shortcuts and paths that lay relatively quiet even during the busiest passing times. She'd been slushied more than enough times in her time to know how to evade just about anyone, so there was no logical explanation as to why she couldn't evade Blaine. Besides the haunting, nagging thought that maybe some part of her, deep down at least, didn't particularly want to.

But that didn't make sense, she tried to reason. She spent half her time with him annoyed, trying to get him to focus and not leer or stand too close or arguing with him on just about anything. He pushed her buttons and grated on her last nerves and the worst part of all, she realized one afternoon while walking out of their biology class, she almost missed him in a way. Because at least it was someone paying attention to her, someone who didn't turn to stare at every other blondes ass who passed by them while they talked, and while she still tried to keep her 'friendship' with him as nonexistent as possible, Finn had all but ditched her after finding a job to help support Quinn's pregnancy.

His words haunted her, night and day, how she wasn't supposed to be second best. She knew that he was ultimately right, that if the circumstances had been normal and ordinary she would never settle for such a place. She was Rachel Berry, star and ingenue of her own life musical, and she wasn't supposed to take a backseat to the blonde Cheerio.

But he didn't understand it, how when it came to Finn it didn't matter if she was first, second of eightieth-she'd rather be in line, in the running in some sort of fashion than give up any chance she could have with him. She would, of course, prefer to be first, and she would do just about anything to get there but-he was happy with Quinn. Or, happy-esque, but until she gained proof of who exactly the father was, she couldn't say a word of what she and everyone else was clearly thinking.

Instead, she refused to talk about Finn around Blaine, glaring at him whenever he insulted the football player and doing her best to stay as clear as she could while still staying on his radar somehow.

All the complications of whatever it was she was doing with Blaine were starting to give her a headache.

**BLAINE ANDERSON:  
**Victory drinks were hardly something surprising in the Anderson family tree.

His father used to have drinks to celebrate it was Wednesday, the least Blaine could do was decide on what he wanted to down after he slid between Rachel's thighs and made her cum so hard she was seeing those gold stars that she loved so much.

It had only been two weeks since the bet between him and Luci had been planted in his head but he was quickly realizing that he wouldn't need a total of five when he was moving as quickly as he was. Damn he was good; not usually one to brag but...he could see it in her eyes every time she tried and failed to avoid him. Something about him was different to her, intriguing. He had her interested, curious-and the fact that he could sing a song and knock it out of the park probably didn't hurt either. He had burrowed under her skin, mixed with her blood and struck her nerves; she wasn't getting rid of him so easily. Not until he won this bet, at least.

The presentation for Bio had con surprisingly smooth; he had hit all the right cues, delivered information seamlessly and managed to win a perfect score with her...only close to messing up once when a snarky remark almost jumped out of his mouth when one of his classmates asked a rude question about the clap directed to embarrass Rachel. Luckily he had answered the question literally, _without _managing to get kicked out of class and lower their grade. He was just happy it was over and done with, the presentation and project had served it's purpose. He had gotten her attention and planted pieces of his charming personality in the back of her mind and in the corners of her heart.

He _had _her. He wouldn't need the culmination of the other three weeks. He'd probably have her between his sheets by the end of this one. Blaine hated to be cocky like this and call the game over and won...but when it felt this _promising, _how else was he supposed to act? He hadn't ironed out the details with Luci yet about just what the payoffs were for this bet but he figured getting into Rachel Berry's pants and her melodic voice echoing in his ears after she came was payment enough for now.

Blaine adjusted his brown satchel over his black cardigan, tugging down the light blue t-shirt underneath as he maneuvered his way through the hallways as the final bell rang, pushing hard against the heavy metal doors that sometimes felt like they were jailing him in. He sighed, ran his fingers through his curls and tried to remember if he parked his car in the east or west lot as he walked down the steps.

Some kid slammed into his shoulder from behind him as he went to rush past, Blaine obviously not moving fast enough for him, and he was about to curse him out when a semi large group of tall and bulky white and red caught his attention to his right. A circle of football players, it seemed, had surrounded one of his classmates...the list of reasons long, daunting and ridiculous. The things that captured the attention of some of the cow tipping Lima dimwits that went to this school downright amazed him sometimes. They were probably either demanding lunch money, taunting just for fun, about to throw slushies, dumpster catapulting or mentioning something about homework needing done to stay on the football team.

Whatever it was, Blaine was far from interested and he reached into his bag to grab his car keys, gripping them in his right hand.

"Give it back or I'll shove this paintbrush so far up your ass the Mona Lisa will feel it!"

Blaine hesitated and his eyes ticked back over to the right. Yeah, alright, that sure as hell sounded familiar. He dropped his keys back into his bag and turned, heading over to the group of jocks, eyes widening slightly as he got closer and closer. Fuck, fuck, _fuck_.

Azimio pushed Luci to her right and she landed harshly against Puckerman's chest as she tried to reach for one of her paintings that Karofsky had in his damn bear paw like hands, holding it above her head with a smirk on his face that made him want to hit him. Hard.

"Jump for it like the little bitch you are." He smirked and held it higher when Luci tried and failed to reach for it again.

Not so much that Blaine was concerned for Luci in this situation but she could throw a hell of a punch when she was pissed off. Her perfect attendance record that she had announced to him some time ago with a pretty smile on her face would surely be ruined...not to mention a caveman linebacker would most likely be unconscious if he let her go. Honestly, it was _his _job to be kicked out of school, not hers.

He pushed his way through the wall of football players to the center where Luci was and grabbed her arm.

"Aw, how cute. Look at this gentleman, we have a chivalrous white knight here to rescue Raggedy Ann." Puck grinned and looked at the pair.

The group laughed and Blaine rolled his eyes. "I think I'd be threatened if any of you could actually _spell _'chivalrous'." He looked at Luci and shook his head once. "Come on, it's not worth it."

"Let go, I didn't ask for your help." She snapped, wrenching her arm free before he could stop her.

He was about to get the painting back himself and end this nonsense before Luci got herself into trouble and he got his ass kicked for trying to help-when Karofsky held the painting in his hands and brought it down onto his knee, splitting the canvas up the center with a deafening rip.

**RACHEL BERRY: **

Afternoons when glee was cancelled for the football teams practices, Rachel often used the empty choir room for her own rehearsals or darted off to ballet to put in a few hours at the studio before going home and finishing all of her homework. It wasn't the most exciting life by any means, the monotony of it was almost dreadfully overpowering, but while the glee club was just starting to accept her, none of them wanted to spend _time _with her-no more than necessary, at least.

She had thought she'd be able to find an ally in Kurt, in Mercedes and Tina but they wanted even less to do with her than the jocks and the Cheerio's. She was an outcast even with the outcasts, leaving her even lonelier than she had hoped for when people started signing up for New Directions.

But as she crossed the parking lot to her car, hoping to just go home and spend the night relaxing for once, watching a movie and baking cupcakes for the bake sale Mr. Schuester was insisting they threw despite how every single one of them argued that it was a bad idea, she noticed a fairly large commotion.

A circle of football players was hardly new, it only meant that someone was being tortured and taunted inside their grasp; Rachel herself had been in the midst of their menacing ways more often than not. It was curiosity and the desire to try and help that caused her to walk towards them instead of away, her flats silent against the pavement as she tried to peek through the barricade of teenage boys to see who was inside. She just wanted to make sure it was none of the glee members, no one she could potentially help fight along side of-not that she would be of any help if it came to physical blows of course, but she knew she was far more intelligent than most of the football team combined, but instead she was greeted by the sight of another familiar face.

Blaine's, to be exact.

And she couldn't explain why her nerves seemed frayed, except that she'd never seen a look of anger like that on his face before. The girl he was always with, Luci, was on his side, a look of pure loathing on her own face as Karofsky laughed at the both of them, various voices taunting them before the painting that Rachel assumed must have been Luci's own was destroyed, a small gasp falling from her own throat even outside of the circle in her small zone of relative safety and anonymity.

A small voice in her head told her to back away, to find her car and stay as far away from the incident as possible, because she could see the way Blaine's fists clenched tightly against his sides, how Luci's eyes narrowed and she was sure a physical brawl was about to occur, but her eyes narrowed in on one of the letterman jackets in the crowd, the familiar mohawk catching her eye and for a moment she didn't know how to feel. Puck was supposed to be one of them now, or at least more compassionate towards them. He didn't throw Kurt into dumpsters anymore and he didn't slushie Rachel every other day and yet here he was, still participating in the needless cruelty towards two people who Rachel knew had done nothing to any of them.

Anger flared through her body, and she wasn't sure why, but it was tempered down by an innate worry that came from nowhere as Luci seemed to launch herself at Karofsky, trying to get revenge for his ruining of her work, and before she could think of what she was doing, she yelled Puck's name.

"Noah Puckerman!" caught the attention of at least half the team, Blaine managing to secure his arms around Luci and pull her out of the midst of everything while they turned to look at her, smirks of bemusement sent in her direction as Puck looked almost ashamed, rubbing the back of his neck while glancing between his teammates and where Rachel stood, arms crossed over her chest as she glared.

"Rach, it wasn't-"

"I thought you were done with all your needless bullying," she scoffed once he approached close enough to her, the rest of the team starting to disappear into smaller sections once it was evident that Puck wouldn't let them do anything to Rachel herself. "I thought that being a part of the glee club meant something to you, Noah." He shifted awkwardly on his feet, muttering some sort of dimwitted apology that she knew he was better than, but she wasn't paying attention to him anymore anyways, her eyes instead drawn to where Blaine was walking with Luci. Try as she might, and she did try, she couldn't seem to stop paying attention to him, the urge to make sure he was okay more than a little overpowering even after Puck sauntered off, mollified from Rachel's reprimanding.

**BLAINE ANDERSON: **

It had taken seventeen long years of his life to finally understand the weight of the meaning of 'calm before the storm', because for a few moments after Karofsky destroyed Luci's painting that's exactly what it had been.

Silent.

The sound started to pick back up with Luci's breathing, which was getting faster and more uneven at his side. The crowd of students that had surrounded them had started to get rowdy again with the prospect of a fight hanging over their heads, exchanging money and bets and words laced with laughs and arm bumps as they hovered to see who would throw the first punch. Anger erupted in his chest as Karofksy dropped the painting, grinning at them and shrugging his one meaty shoulder.

"Oops." He said, smirk lacing his soon to be fat and bruised lips.

His hands clenched, a slow burning heat coiled in his stomach and his feet nearly jerked forward to lean into his punch before-

"You _neanderthal_!" Luci hissed, her voice harsh and alight with rage.

Blaine barely had time to switch his stances as Luci lunged at the taller football player, not caring that she was a thousand times tinier and lighter than him and that she'd probably only get a few good punches in before Karofsky or any of the others around them retaliated, damning to hell the concept that men weren't supposed to hit girls. He reached for her before Luci's fist could make contact with the dumbass's face, arm wrapping around her waist and yanking her back with some effort as she kicked her legs, her hands coming down in balled fists on his arm in desperate attempts to let her go. He wasn't worried about her, exactly, but Karofsky would probably end up with one hell of a bruised cheek bone and only Luci would suffer from that even though she hadn't started any of this. Someone said Puck's name and Blaine took the opportunity of distraction to pull Luci from the center of the circle back into the crowd of students that were slowly dissipating when they realized a fight wasn't going to actually happen.

"Let me go," She screamed, writhing in his grasp to the point that he had to grab her with both arms. "Blaine, let _go_! I don't need your help, I got it-I-"

He grunted and ignored her when a sharp blow to his ribs came from her elbow, continuing to pull her away from the group and in the direction of his car. Her breathing was getting heavier and heavier, more frantic as she tried to take in big gulps of air, continuing to try and pull free of him like the only thing that was driving her was slamming Karofsky's face into the grass.

"Stop it," Blaine hushed, grabbing her wrists when he finally sat her on the front of his car, "Luci, hey, stop! Stop." He squeezed her wrists when she tried to wrench herself free, attempting to push him back-he could feel her start to shake.

"I didn't need your help," She spat, her eyes not leaving the crowd he had just dragged her from once. He glanced back over his shoulder at her forgotten painting on the ground, nearly torn in half, students carelessly walking over and on it as they went about their day to their cars to go home. "I _had _it."

"Look at me," He said calmly and sighed when she refused to. He squeezed her wrists. "The only thing you were going to _have _was a black eye, split lip and probably a suspension if I would have let you go."

She shook her head, her lower lip starting to wobble as she tore her gaze away from the grass to his hands on her wrists. "I worked on t-that for months, I-" She finally looked up at him as tears pushed past her eyelashes and down her cheeks, her breathing still as heavy as it had been before...but this time it was from being upset and not because she was incredibly angry. "_Months_, I was going to submit it to an art gallery and-get out of this stupid fucking _place-" _

Blaine shifted in-between her legs, cupping her face with his one hand as he let go of her wrist. His thumb traced her cheekbone, picking up a tear track that had started with the pad of his finger. He may have been an asshole, especially to Luci because fuck, on his good days he really didn't deserve a friend like her and maybe he took her for granted more than he should have but-_fuck_, as much as he didn't do deeper feelings or emotions (messy and useless and time consuming) he _hated _when girls cried.

"You are going to get out of here," He said softly, his thumb dipping to tilt her chin up so she was looking at him. Her one hand squeezed his other wrist as the other reached up to try and wipe her face. "You are...which is why I couldn't let you have a rage blackout on a dimwitted football player, _imagine _what that would do to your spotless record Ms. Burke."

A soft, wet, chuckle left her lips-exactly what he'd been aiming for and he felt a small smile tug at the ends of his mouth before he leaned down, pressing closer and capturing her lips in a slow kiss, successfully distracting her from crying anymore. When he pulled back and smiled a little against her lips, his thumb tracing a shape on her cheek, Blaine pressed a solid kiss to the bridge of her nose before wrapping his hand around the back of her neck to pull her into a hug, her face disappearing into the spot between his shoulder and neck.

**RACHEL BERRY: **

Logic told her to walk away. It told her to get in her car, to drive home and remember her plans for the evening. But there was something inside of her pulling her towards where Blaine and Luci sat on his car instead, a weird sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach as he tried to calm her down, all soothing tones and light touches. It was a different side to him she'd never expected; gentle, kind, caring. She wasn't close enough to hear the words being exchanged, of course, nor actually see the tears running down Luci's cheeks, but she was sure the girl was having a breakdown and Rachel didn't blame her. Her craft had been mocked enough, if it had physical evidence the jackasses on the football team could break Rachel knew without a doubt they would. The Cheerio's already launched massive attacks of cruelty on any video she posted on the internet of herself singing, vain hopes of being discovered that way dashed by endless streams of negative comments.

She was empathetic towards the girl she knew nothing of, because there was nothing worse than having someone break down your talents and accomplishments without so much as a second thought right in front of you.

But all the empathy in the world was dashed away as she watched Blaine lean in close to the girl, her own breath caught in her throat like it was her face he was closing in on, her mouth suddenly dry and it hit her like a train, the realization that she wanted that. That despite what her feelings for Finn were-and she couldn't deny that she was still hopelessly in love with Finn, probably always would be-Blaine had worked his way under her skin as well, had wound her up so far in tune with him that the second he kissed Luci she felt her entire world stop for a moment.

Because it should have been her.

"No," she whispered silently to herself, because she wasn't stupid, she wasn't naive and yet wanting him on any level was both of those things and more. It would only lead to her getting hurt, would only end in her own reputation being thrown away, but the proof was more than evident in the way tears stung the back of her eyes and her stomach clenched tightly as if she might throw up.

She didn't know if she wanted to stomp over and interrupt them, to demand distance between the two of them until Blaine was paying attention to her like that or if she wanted to flee, run away and keep the sudden revelation a secret between her and herself alone, locking it tightly away in a small box in the corner of her mind until it didn't exist anymore.

The worst part was how it made sense to her, how of _course _this was what had been happening inside her mind without her consent. All the stolen breaths when he was a little too close to her and all she could smell was cologne and cigarette smoke permeating off of him, all the small jumps she tried to hide when he breached the line and touched any part of her for her attention. He'd worked his way into her brain without even any effort, and she hadn't seen it coming in enough time to prepare herself to stop.

And now she was just like any of the other stupid girls who tripped over their own feet in an attempt to win his attention, tears starting to fall out of the corner of her eye as she stomped past the two of them still wrapped up entirely in one another on the hood of his car, sure he wouldn't even notice her passing as she stormed her way through the parking lot in an attempt to find her own car in the slowly emptying lot.

**BLAINE ANDERSON: **

Blaine let Luci pull back when she was ready, a steady palm ghosting up and down her back as she sniffled into his shoulder. He rested his chin on her head of wild red curls, his eyes ticking back and forth along the parking lot absentmindedly as cars started to dissipate, students clearing from school grounds when the promises of a fight were long gone. He had to fight every instinct in his damn body that was telling him to leave Luci at the car and find Karofsky to knock his teeth in-but the temporary thrill and relief he'd get from doing just that would not make up for Luci being upset or getting him kicked out of school...after all, how'd he win this damn bet if he wasn't buzzing around Rachel Berry every damn day like some sort of aggravating fruit fly?

His fingers pressed small circles into Luci's spine as he saw a flash of pink out of the corner of his eye-he'd recognize that storm off anywhere; Rachel Berry stalking past his car like she was going to war. He felt a small smile tug at the ends of his mouth, a small head shake before his attention was reverted back to Luci when she started to pull back from him, her hands coming to rest loosely on his hips.

She sniffled wetly, running the back of her wrist over her nose as she looked up at him, eyelashes wet and pretty as they fluttered over her pink dusted cheeks.

"You okay?" He asked softly, his lips brushing her own.

Luci sighed, her breath tickling his nose. "Not really." She shook her head and swallowed. "That painting...it's just. I know it wasn't the best of the best but it still took me _months _to do."

He knew the feeling of hopes dashed and dreams crushed all too well. "You're too upset to drive. Did you park in the south lot?"

She nodded her head but didn't say anything else, her one hand leaving his hip to play with a button on his cardigan.

"Go to your car and get your things," He glanced up to see Rachel sitting on the hood of her own car, not facing them, her shoulders tense and unamused. God...he knew he was basically risking his own life going over there but she seemed upset for a reason...and if he was going to win this bet he had to at least pretend like he gave a shit about what was going on in her life. "Come back and I'll take you home. We can order food and you can put in one of those awful thriller movies you like."

Luci smiled softly and shook her head, tugging on his cardigan. "Careful Blaine, you almost sound like you care that I'm upset."

He rolled his eyes. "Don't flatter yourself, I'm hoping you'll let me cop a feel and sneak a hand into your panties."

She pushed him and glared playfully, making him laugh and grab her hand, squeezing it before kissing her cheek. "Go, I'll be here."

Luci sighed softly and nodded, moving to hop off his car and start her walk to the south lot which was near the football field on the other side of the school. He brushed his hands off his jeans and raised his eyebrows when Rachel looked back at him from her position on her car, squeezing her arms across her chest in the middle of what seemed like a temper tantrum.

When he got closer he rounded the car to face her, leaning into the frame and smiling slowly. "Dare I even ask what your problem of the day is, Rachel Berry?"

**RACHEL BERRY: **

Her fingers had gone as far as curling around the handle of her car door before she'd stopped and stared at the two of them once more. It was unsettling, the feeling washing over her, the need to claim him as her own when she had no right to do any such thing. Blaine was already someone's, that much was obvious even if it wasn't to him. Because Luci was clearly enraptured by the boy, and that thought only made anger and jealousy simmer even deeper inside of her.

She needed to cool down before she could drive home; in her current state she was probably a danger to herself and others. A moment resting on the trunk of her own car would settle her, she was sure, but her neck kept snapping back to the car a few rows over, to where Luci was wrapped around Blaine even as he spared a glance in Rachel's direction, her face whipping around to avoid his gaze even as a blush crawled over her cheeks. The last thing she needed was him coming over, asking her what she was doing sitting out on her car alone after hours, and she managed to convince herself that there was no way he'd leave Luci's side in order to check on Rachel of all people.

But he always took her by surprise, never doing exactly what she had expected of him, and it almost infuriated her more that he could do that. She was so careful in her planning, only acting instinctively when it was important-a life or death situation or before her thoughts got the better of her-and he always threw her plans for a loop.

And he was always so cocky, cool and collected even after what she'd just witnessed. Like she hadn't seen him almost punch out half the football team before caring for his friend, like he was still just the jackass with the bad reputation who interrupted her lunch that first day they met.

"Nothing," she snapped, sliding off her car and smoothing down her skirt as she tried to turn away from him, "why would I have a problem? I just watched one of my fellow teammates almost get into a fight with the guy I-with someone else I know, watched the entire football team once again tear down someone for no reason other than their popularity isn't near the level their own is, and it's been a long day," she said, crossing her arms over her chest to glare at him once she felt a little safer being a few feet away from him.

Because god, it _was _there, bubbling underneath the surface, and she wondered how long that had been happening to her. How long she had repressed the urge to tangle her fingers in his curls and crash her lips over his, to crawl into his space until skin was skin and no one could tell who belonged to who. And it was driving her crazy in a way she wasn't used to, in a way she didn't get about Finn and Quinn or even Puck when they had been dating.

"I'm fine," she said, trying to keep her tone even and failing miserably in the process. "Why don't you go take care of your _friend_," she said, the last word dripping like venom from her voice.

**BLAINE ANDERSON: **

His eyebrows rose at the amount of hostility directed towards him out of nowhere, like he had been the one to personally put her panties in a bunch. A look of surprise crossed his face before utter amusement covered his features, his arms crossing over his chest as he leaned against her car, his eyes shamelessly trailing up and down her body as she practically berated him after he had asked what was wrong.

Maybe he shouldn't have let his wall drop so easily around Luci, he hadn't really been able to help himself, he honestly couldn't take crying girls-especially Luci. He may have been an asshole but he'd be an idiot to think for a moment that he wasn't lucky that she considered him an actual good he wasn't going to be _sorry _for it, of all things; not to her, not to Rachel Berry who couldn't even brag about having friends to comment on her lonely and dusty Myspace audio and video posts.

Blaine shook his head; except she was yelling at him for all the wrong reasons. He could see right through her, transparent as a sheet of glass-she wasn't annoyed because it was a long day, or because she had to watch one of her fellow classmates (someone who wasn't on the hierarchical scale like her) get tortured and torn apart because they dreamed bigger than this podunk town; that they could get out of here compared to the rest of them, trapped in jars like some bizarre bugs.

He was about to open his mouth and comment on how that so called 'fine' attitude was greatly hindered by the fact that she was acting like a completely and utter bitch to him for no apparent reason. Well, at least, it wasn't apparent until Rachel spit out the word _friend _like she was talking about one of those neanderthal football players. He nearly got defensive; Rachel had no business having an issue with him about Luci, she didn't even _know _Luci, so he couldn't understand what her fucking problem was-

then it washed over him like a tidal wave. She had stalked off to her car, past him and Luci in a rush, like she had been personally _offended _by what had happened, like she had been the one to suffer the mortification of having hard work destroyed in front of half the school. No, that wasn't what this was about-she was physically angry at him, spouting off about Luci like the girl had just taken a solo from her.

She was...

Blaine bit the inside of his cheek hard as the urge to slowly smile gripped his system. She was _jealous_. He did it. He managed to burrow himself so far under her skin without her realizing-this was what he had been waiting for. It was going to be a cakewalk, here on out, he just had to keep pressing her-just enough of an indentation for her to feel it.

"So, that's what this is about? Luci?" He smiled and bit his lower lip, his eyes flickering over her long legs sticking out of her plaid skirt, shins covered in equally patterned knee high socks. "You jealous Berry? Want to know what's its like to kiss me?" He leaned closer until his breath tickled her lips. "What my tongue feels like as it slides over yours as it explores your mouth?" His hazel eyes, speckled with bright browns, trailed over the swell over her lower lip, smiling softly as she was speechless for a long moment before pulling back.

He smirked and shrugged his one shoulder. "Maybe not."

**RACHEL BERRY:**

She did want to know, more than she could have ever anticipated. And for a second, she was sure he was going to kiss her regardless of what she might have argued otherwise, right there in the middle of the parking lot and potentially damaging any chance at keeping her reputation clean in one fell swoop. She wasn't even sure she would mind; not when her breath was lodged in her throat and she couldn't find the power to exhale. Words were useless, she knew her voice wouldn't sound the same, would probably plead for him to just do it the closer he stood close to her.

It was torture, she could feel his eyes repeatedly raking over her body, skin tingling and hyper aware of every spot he seemed to linger on, and she crossed her arms over her chest to try and steady herself, regain composure as he stepped away from her, sly smile in place.

She wanted to slap him. Hard, across the face, and tell him to just _leave her alone_, stay out of her life because he wasn't doing her any good.

"Of course not," she scoffed once she was sure she could be in control of her emotions again, her hormones really, it was their fault she was in this position. "I have a-what did you call it? Hopelessly pathetic unrequited love for Finn, so why would I _ever_ think about you like that?"

Using Finn as a scapegoat was a poor excuse as a defense mechanism, and she knew he could see right through her. It was the worst part of all, that he somehow knew how to read her and while she'd never been a particularly closed book, it was disconcerting that whatever she tried to portray he ignored anyways.

"Besides," she glared, "what I want is irrelevant and even if it was you-which it most certainly _isn't_-that wouldn't matter anyways when your 'friend' Luci is completely in love with you and you play her around for fun."

**BLAINE ANDERSON: **

When Rachel brought up Finn basically as a scapegoat, Blaine knew he was right. Not only was able to relish in that simple fact, but what really topped the fucking cake was Rachel knew Blaine was right too-the mention of Finn had been cheap and desperate, a sad excuse to draw his attention away from the conversation. She was trying to hook him on bait, and while he loved to entertain the idea of insulting the Jolly Green Giant, there were more important things to worry about.

The fact of the matter was that it was extremely obvious just how much she must have thought of him like that. It may not have been so noticeable before, to the point where he sort of had to guess if he was right, but today had been a bright and shining example and all she was doing with those indignant looks and small noises that resembled huffs every ten seconds was just adding more evidence to what he already knew. Her storm off and the fact that her cheeks were bright red, lower lip swollen and bruised from her teeth dragging repeatedly over the skin, eyes wide and reflecting some sort of green monster with vicious claws. Although, this was apparently the first time she had saw him kiss Luci, which he did rather often; and he nearly asked her that if it wasn't such a big deal, then why was she acting like a scorned girlfriend having a temper tantrum.

He wasn't sure how much he should tip his hand, however; how much he should infer how often he noticed her watching him-because she could easily turn it back on him that he noticed her just as much as she let her eyes wander and land on him for long periods of time.

So instead, he shifted his weight and smiled softly. "You're right, I guess it is rather irrelevant at this point." He drummed his fingers along the roof of her car; ignoring the comment about Luci being in love with him completely. No reason to waste his breath when Rachel was completely _wrong_. "You know what? I actually have better things to do than stand in a semi-empty parking lot arguing with you over 'nothing' apparently when I have to get back to Luci..."

Blaine stood up straight so he wasn't leaning against her car anymore and brushed his sleeve off, turning his head a little to smile at her.

"Which you obviously know since you couldn't keep your eyes off of me the entire time I was with her on the hood of my car." He licked his lips. "If you're going to stare at me long enough, like a dog in heat, I suggest you stake your claim...seeing as how all it takes for Luci to get her panties around her ankles is one slow smile and a lingering touch along her collarbone."

**RACHEL BERRY: **

_Stake your claim_. It was almost like a challenge, presented right there in front of her while her insides churned with something close to nausea at the thought of Blaine and Luci in the back of his car, jealousy roaring louder than she'd ever recognized it before. And it just _didn't make sense_, because she didn't get this mad about Quinn being on Finn's arm, or stealing Puck's attention away from her.

She was tired of fighting with herself, of denying that she did want a part of him, and while she knew that not everyone had left the parking lot completely it was empty enough that she was sure she could deny that she ever acted upon her instincts, instead grabbing ahold of his black cardigan and pulling him towards her, crashing her lips against his own and kissing him harshly. It wasn't like he was Puck, after all, who had asked before making out with her, or Finn, who she had had to give permission to. It was almost desperate, because she knew she wouldn't allow herself to break down this far again, and she wanted to take advantage of her weakness while she could. To memorize the way his lips pried her own open, his tongue teasing her own as it glided almost effortlessly into her mouth while she was backed into her own car, Blaine's hands grabbing a firm hold on her hips.

And she wanted to keep going, to open the door and pull him in with her and get lost in a sense of lust she'd never experienced before, but his hands started moving further up her sides, almost like he could sense that she wanted to give in and panic took over once more as she pushed him away.

"There," she snapped, "I'm sure that's all you wanted anyways, just to see if you could get innocent Rachel Berry to fall into your trap. I did, are you happy? Just-god, just leave me alone!" she snapped, and when he tried to move towards her again her hand lashed out, slapping him hard across the face and resulting in an almost amused stunned expression from him before she huffed, loudly, yanking her car door open and driving away as quickly as she could, leaving him and whatever she had gotten herself into far, far behind.


	4. Loaded Shotgun

**Title**: Loaded Shotgun 4/? (Part of: _**Cigarette burned Stars**_ verse)

**Pairing**: blainchel

**Summary**: After avoiding Blaine for a few days because of a heated kiss in the parking lot, Rachel runs into him at a party-she tries to follow every gut instinct she has about him but something about him just keeps pulling her back in. Things get a little heated when Blaine teaches Rachel how to shotgun.

**Authors**: civillove (Blaine) & berrywarbler (Rachel)

**Rating**: PG-13

**Author's note**: Like we have to explain who is who, but just in case :P Also blainchel written by blainchel means that it's the best blainchel xoxo  
**Author's note 2: **This reads in RP format because…well it's basically an RP that we're posting as fic. _You're welcome_.

**BLAINE ANDERSON:  
**Rachel probably thought that slapping him after_ sucking on his face _for two whole minutes was something that would deter him from coming to school the next day. His face still stung even a day later, he was certain that people could even see the outline of Rachel's slender fingers imprinted on his face, a damn stamp that said 'Rachel Berry was here' shining against his cheekbone and stubble on his chin. He didn't mind wearing war wounds-this wasn't the first time he'd had a girl leave their mark on him; whether it was a hickey or sensual scratches and bites, he wore them rather proudly, like badges in a damn boy scout camp.

There was nothing to be ashamed of and he wasn't going to try and hide them either. Besides, it was always interesting to hear what the rumor mill came up with, the only somewhat entertaining while still aggravating part of the damn school. It wasn't like his bites and scratches had innocently come from volunteering his time at a fucking animal shelter but some of the things that reached his ears at the end of the day...he honestly was very worried for the combined IQ of the school.

Rachel was avoiding him, that should have been clear as day to him when he hadn't ran into her once on Thursday. He thought it was cute, that she thought she had to steer clear of him (shouldn't he have been the one avoiding her? She was the one that had attacked him with her lips in the parking lot, a drive by kiss attack), that she thought she could resist him for so long-she could deny it all she wanted, regretted that kiss until the cows came home, but he knew how she felt deep down. She was lonely, vulnerable,naive and somewhat helpless against any sort of attention thrown her way...her ignoring him would eventually drive her crazy and when she finally let herself back into his presence again, he'd go in for the kill.

After all, he only had two or so weeks left.

Blaine had slept through his alarm on Friday and when he woke up, ten after 11:15, he decided to stay home from school...he was only going to skip half the day's classes anyways. Luci had been texting him since he missed their usual rendezvous in the parking lot before first period and asked him if 1) if he was hungover or some shit, 2) made sure he hadn't gone out to breakfast without inviting her (the absolute _horror_) 3) briefly mentioned if he was making headway on Rachel and 4) if he was going to Puck's party tonight (more like she wanted to go and he really had no choice and to pick her up at 10).

He supposed a party wouldn't be so bad, Puckerman was known for throwing a good rager every now and then. He could use a drink and some harmless flirting with Luci-besides, if Puck was throwing the party, there was a 100 percent chance that Finn would be there...

and where Finn was, a stalking and desperate Rachel Berry clad in knee highs and a plaid skirt was certainly close behind.

She'd been avoiding him since Wednesday and he hadn't been to school on Friday. He was willing to bet that if he showed up and promptly ignored her then she'd approach him. If he had the money he'd put a downpayment on that prediction. Good as gold. He may not have known Rachel well enough, but at this point it was easy to see that she was fairly predictable. She was lonely and Blaine had been giving her attention, hot and heavy, for the past three or so weeks. She wasn't going to turn that down...no matter how much she claimed to hate him, no matter how ashamed she was of that so called kiss, no matter if every fiber of her being was telling her no-

she'd yes her way all the way to speaking to him and maybe, just maybe, he'd get lucky and close this bet for good. He had a good feeling when he picked Luci up and headed his way over to the Puckerman residence,readying himself for a long night of drinking...and driving Rachel Berry off the deep end.

**RACHEL BERRY: **

Rachel was an _idiot_. She could explain away the kiss however she wanted to, but it all came down to a lack of self control-something she normally prided herself in-and the fact that she'd given in to something she wasn't even supposed to want.

The only good thing to come out of the incident was that it gave her the power to push through for Finn, and when Kurt came up to her after school one day in a truce and the offer of a makeover, Rachel didn't think twice before accepting. Not that she didn't like her normal look; despite what others said about it, she liked her sweaters and skirts and even her knee high socks, but it clearly wasn't working if Finn was still chasing after a woman pregnant with another mans child.

So she'd take any help she could get.

"He'll be at Puckerman's party tonight," Kurt assured her when he arrived at her house Friday night, bucket of make up and hair product in hand. Rachel had let him in hesitantly, ignoring the jibes about her room, her wardrobe options and her hair. They were all extraneous to her talents, and he could at least admit that he admired those.

"Do you really think this will work?" she asked while Kurt was half-way through curling her hair, loose waves bobbing over her shoulders. "That I can win Finn over with a new look?"

Kurt stared at her for a minute in the mirrors reflection, almost as if he was contemplating between asking about something, and she prodded at him until he finally did.

"Are you sure Finn's the one you're trying to impress?"

The question hit too close to home, because while she'd deny it until she was blue in the face, she couldn't help but wonder what Blaine might think of her new look. Of the short black skirt Kurt had found hidden away, of the corset top she'd worn underneath another shirt for a glee number that Kurt was _insisting _she wear on its own. Of the lips painted red and the eyes rimmed with dark liner, how she looked older, more mature, _sexier _as Kurt had promised.

"Of course it's Finn," she scoffed, running her tongue across her top lip and staring at her own reflection for a minute as Kurt tugged on one final curl, making it bounce out of the corner of her eye and he smiled widely before proclaiming that he was done, spinning her around on her stool to examine her face to face.

"I'm just saying," Kurt continued after a minute, as if he wasn't distracted examining his handy work, "that if there was someone else, maybe, someone whose reputation is less than stellar, you'd probably have an easier time winning him over than Finn."

Rachel pursed her lips before Kurt disappeared to get ready on his own, her fingers plucking at the clothes while she thought about the accusation. Because she was sure she could have Blaine, in some way at least-a physical way, if she gave in again. But all the things she so desperately wanted-to be on the arm of someone at school, to have a boyfriend who loved and adored her, to be the only one to someone-Blaine couldn't give her that. He wouldn't, especially not with Luci around, and she knew that.

She'd just have to focus on winning Finn over, because dwelling on Blaine would get her nowhere.

**BLAINE ANDERSON:**

He'd been there for an hour and he was already two drinks in. He had no idea why he let Luci drag him to stupid and pointless shit like this. It was just an excuse for all the jocks and semi-popular kids to gather all under one place to drink and dance themselves into oblivion. He was only here because Luci wanted him to be. He'd much rather be at home, ordering take out, avoiding his mom and flipping through channels to try and find something interesting on TV. But Luci wanted to come to this damn party and to be honest he had no idea why, in the slightest; if the allure of beer and ridiculous dancing and ending up in a room upstairs at the end of the night with her panties around her ankles was too much to ignore he could have offered her that without going to this damn thing. If she hadn't had such an altercation with half of the damn football team earlier with her painting he would have let her go by herself-

and yet there he was, making sure his so called best friend didn't get herself into any trouble. Since when was he the one concerned about making sure she had a ride home and didn't do anything stupid, like throw a few punches at a football player's head. He rolled his eyes as he set his red cup down on a random surface, the closest one he could find, before he weaved through the crowd. He patted his back pocket for his cigarette pack, considering locating Luci to tell her he was going outside for a smoke.

He was almost certain he had seen her trying to tap a keg in the kitchen and maybe if he promised her a night out seeing a stupid Rom com he knew she was dying to see (even though she'd deny it) they could leave earlier than intended. He turned the corner, biting his lip with a pointed eyeroll as a band of cheerios passed him with their skirts hiked high and football players wrapped around their waist. They sipped on their 'light' beers and started singing along to whatever rap song was blasting through the speakers in the living room.

Unfortunately Luci was no where to be found in the kitchen and he was starting to lose his patience with the crowd stifling the air trying to get to his lungs. He ran a hand through his curls and turned to head outside, if Luci needed him _she_ could find him for Christ's sake.

Blaine turned the corner out of the kitchen, remembering the patio door in the dining room that led outside to a table and some chairs when he rammed right into someone who was trying to pass. Whoever she was, she was wearing too high heels that she wasn't used to because the slight connection with his body had thrown her off balence. His hand shot out to grab her forearm, steadying her.

"You should watch wear your going or learn how to walk in those death traps-" Blaine cut himself off as he looked at the girl in front of him, his mouth opening and closing.

The dolled up raven haired beauty in front of him looked so different than anyone he had seen before...and he almost couldn't believe that she was the _exact _same Rachel Berry he was spending all this time trying to seduce. She didn't even look the same, he hadn't recognized her at first. Well, well, well...amazing what a short skirt, tight top, straightened hair and a shit fuck ton of makeup could do. Not that she hadn't been sexy before (a secret kind of hot, buried under all those sweaters and tights) but now it was more prominent, out in the open, _obvious. _He smirked and let go of her forearm, his eyes trailing up and down her body.

"Color me impressed," Blaine drawled, the ends of his mouth upturning in an attractive smile. "You look good, Berry. One might dare to even say _sexy." _

She seemed flustered at that, like she had intended for this but was actually surprised that he was into her new look. He gave her a soft smile before reaching out and tucking a random piece of hair that was sticking to the side around her ear. He shook his head, heading past her to go outside. He wasn't quite sure where she was exactly headed with that new look of hers...but he was sure that if it had something to do with him, she'd follow him outside.

**RACHEL BERRY: **

Rachel had never actually attended one of Puck's infamous parties before, and she was starting to understand why. She felt incredibly out of place, and every time Kurt caught her winding her arm around her stomach as if to hide herself away he would wank it back down and put her hand on her hip while hissing that this had a _purpose _and avoiding it would only frustrate everyone involved.

But she'd seen Finn, arm wrapped tight around Quinn as if nothing would distract him in the entire world, and she didn't know how to go about stealing him away from the blonde. It felt almost wrong to, despite the knowledge that Quinn had strayed in their relationship. Despite the ever present thought that Finn deserved better than to be made a father to a child that wasn't his at the tender age of 16.

Running directly into Blaine seemed to renew her confidence, his compliment causing her skin to turn pink and while she watched him walk outside, the temptation to follow along almost too strong, she knew he'd only be far too happy with that outcome. So instead, she headed back into the living room to find Finn free of any Cheerio's or girlfriends for once, perched on the arm of the couch and looking as surprised at her look as Blaine had.

She watched as Finn's one eyebrow rose, his hand tightening around his red cup and his eyes trailed along her body, his mouth forming in a solid 'O' shape, disbelief shading his eyes. "Wow, Rachel is that you? You look...all grown up like. I didn't think you owned tights that didn't have bows on them or something." A red flush crawled over her cheeks again, painting her skin lightly as she noticed how he zeroed in on her legs, pulling a half smile.

"Thanks," she said quietly, making sure not to tug on the hem of her skirt any and instead choosing to wind her fingers through her hair, a smile on her face at the attention she was finally getting. And she knew she should make the most of it, before Quinn returned from wherever she had been dragged off to, but she was suddenly nervous with the idea of being seemingly alone with Finn, even in the middle of a crowded party.

"Are you having fun?" Finn questioned, motioning for her to come closer so she could better hear him over the music blaring over the sound system, his hand falling innocently around her wrist to keep her close. She waited for the sparks that she thought she had always felt to rush through her, the way they had whenever Blaine touched her, but nothing more than a pleasant warmth spread across her skin and she tried not to question it.

"I am," she promised, though she wasn't 100% sure that was the truth. She felt awkward and out of place and like she didn't belong, and the one cup of beer Santana had forced into her hand hadn't helped settle anything, only served to make everything that much more confusing. "Though I don't really know all that many people here," she confided, teeth immediately sinking into her bottom lip at the admission as Finn chuckled quietly, nodding in response.

"This isn't exactly your normal crowd," he agreed, opening his mouth like he might continue when her name was hissed in an all too familiar female alto, Finn's hand immediately dropped from her arm as she whirled around.

"Go _away _Berry," Quinn snapped, grabbing onto Finn's hand to pull him away, and while he shot her an apologetic glance, she was left alone once more.

The voice inside her head reminded her that she knew there was very little chance any headway would actually be made on Finn, and with a small pout she wandered through the crowd until she found herself standing on the back porch, Blaine leaning over the railing with his back towards her. Every fiber in her being yelled at her to run, to turn back and find Kurt or Mercedes or even Mike Chang; anyone that wasn't Blaine and the bad decisions she tended to make around him.

Instead, her legs seemed to be forcing her forward until she was standing next to him, hands wrapping around the railing of the porch as she smiled shyly over at him, unsure of really what to say to him after her freak out the other day.

**BLAINE ANDERSON:**

He wasn't sure how long it would take but he eventually heard the clicking of heels, like clockwork, heading out onto the patio with him. The sound of the patio door closing was deafening, blocking out the sounds of pounding music and their rowdy drunken peers. He didn't look up from his cigarette for a long while, instead focusing his attention on the tumbling ashes falling from the end of the butt. He flicked his thumb, kicking the embers off the canister, stretching back onto the lawn chair he was seated in, feeling her curious eyes trace over his body with every single move he made.

The night was slightly chilly but nothing too extreme, he was perfectly comfortable in his dark denim jeans, long sleeved evergreen t-shirt and his favorite leather jacket, worn with age and memories, impressions of a father he pretended to know. Blaine didn't say anything for a few moments, his eyes glancing over the backyard, wondering how many backyard barbeques this picture perfect family that he'd seen pictures of in the living room had together. He couldn't remember the last time he had had a sit down dinner with his parents and Cooper...he missed his brother more than he liked to admit but who the fuck was he going to talk to about that? His mother, Luci maybe? It was damn near _laughable_.

He'd rather keep it to himself. He knew, at least, that he could trust himself and that's all he needed.

Blaine looked up and felt the tiniest smile pull at his mouth, an eyebrow cocked in mock surprise as Rachel smiled sheepishly at him, like she was trying to prod a conversation that had no reason to start in the first place, not after her crazy outburst in the parking lot a while ago, his come ons in the kitchen notwithstanding.

"So boredwith Finn trying to give you a compliment and remember his last name at the same time that you came out here to acquire second hand?" He smirked, taking a long drag off the cigarette, flicking his finger and turning his body to face her a bit more so he could get a good look at her. "Or did you just miss me." He smiled slowly, licking his lower lip a moment, his lungs burning slightly from breathing in the delicious trail of smoke wafting up from the cigarette between his fingers.

RACHEL BERRY:

"Of course I didn't miss you," she scoffed, rolling her eyes as her hand landed on her hip, but the truth of the matter was that maybe a part of her did. When they had been forced in one anothers presence for their project, he was around all the time. Whether he cared about the project or just wanted to work his way under her skin, she still wasn't 100% sure, but the fact of the matter remained: she'd somehow grown so attached to him that she did want to be around him.

And it was utterly pointless, probably one of the stupidest situations she'd ever landed herself in. Because Blaine didn't _want _her, and even if he did it was only for one thing. At least Finn shared interests with her, activities and at the end of the day, Finn could provide for Rachel what she wanted, if only it wasn't for Quinn's existence.

"I just..." she trailed off, her teeth sinking into her bottom lip for a second, because there was no real explanation to how she had found her way out to the deck where they both knew she had known he was. "I wanted some air," she decided on, nodding her head as if that would confirm her statement, though the smoke that he kept pushing out from his lips was making that point hard to prove. "I didn't want the alcohol to go to my head, or somehow get pressured into drinking more. I really don't need it, after all, not with ballet first thing in the morning and..."

Her mouth snapped shut because she knew that he didn't really care, and anything she said could only really be held against her anyways. A soft sigh escaped her as she leaned back against the railing, wrapping her arms around her torso in an attempt to keep herself warmer in the cool night air, wishing she had brought a jacket with her to keep her comfortable.

"How can you even stand smoking?" she asked instead, meeting his gaze for a moment until the heat started to build under her skin, threatening to color it pink. "It's disgusting, and you have a voice that could lead you places...why would you risk that just for a 'stress relief'?"

**BLAINE ANDERSON:  
**Blaine licked his lips, running his hand through his curls again, his other fingers playing with the canister of the cigarette near his mouth. His eyes trailed over her form, landing on her long legs once again, the soft milky color shining almost iridescently against the moon high in the sky. He sighed, trying to focus on the trail of insults that were more than likely tumbling out of her mouth, her melodic voice echoing in his ears.

He rolled his eyes, swearing to himself because when did he get so fucking _soft_? Why did he give a shit if she was shivering or not, it was cold out and she was wearing a goddamn mini skirt-didn't the girl _own_ any pants? He hated to give up his jacket, really, was he a chivalrous kind of person now? It shouldn't have been his damn problem...but he guessed looking like a gentleman didn't exactly hurt his cause.

He stood up, flicking his cigarette of extra ashes and embers before sliding off his leather jacket, moving over to her to slip it over her shoulders. Blaine smiled down at her, the one corner of his lip lifting in a smirk as he saw a pale blush pass over her cheeks right before pulling back.

He brought the cig back to his lips and took a long drag, registering her words from before. "Have you ever tried it before?" He asked, his eyebrows quirked, watching her face carefully.

She sort of scoffed and crossed her arms over her chest-which told him she knew jack shit. She could talk the talk, that was for damn sure.

He leaned closer, his breath brushing over her face as he spoke. He shook his head a little. "Then shut up." He smirked, taking another drag as he pulled back and sat down on the lawn chair he'd been on before she came outside.

**RACHEL BERRY: **

Of all the things Rachel had expected, for Blaine to slip his jacket over her shoulders had not been one of them. And she couldn't help the small smile of gratitude grace her lips; it smelled like him, a mixture of smoke and cologne and anything that encompassed _Blaine_. It was definitely warmer with his jacket, and she wrapped it tighter around herself as he moved far too close to her.

"It's horrible for your voice," she said once she found her vocal chords, crossing her legs at the ankles and leaning against a pole supporting the roof of the porch as he sat back down. "It damages your lungs, after all, and I can't compromise my lung capacity. It'd be like..." she trailed off, trying to find an analogy that might land closer to home to him. "It'd be like if Luci did something to jeopardize her hands. She's an artist, right? I'm sure she wouldn't risk her art and her ticket out for some quick fun."

'Quick fun' however, seemed all the more tempting as Rachel saw Quinn and Finn through a window, hands wandering and laughter silent from inside the kitchen, Rachel sighing in resignation before she turned away from the image.

"I've never wanted to, before," she said quietly, though Blaine's mere existence tempted her into a lot of things she never thought about before.

**BLAINE ANDERSON:  
**His smile slipped from his face for an instant, not entirely liking the singer's change of subject to his best friend. For some reason, whether he liked to admit it or not, on his best days he was rather territorial over the tiny redhead-he knew well enough that she was too good for him, that he really didn't deserve to call her his best friend...but she _was _all he had when he considered people close to him. He didn't exactly tell her everything but he told her more than most and she had seen him when he was at his worst and vice versa for him being there for her...so for Rachel to bring her up out of the blue, even though it was just a harmless analogy, made him uncomfortable.

He leaned back in his seat and shook his head, a ghost of a smile tracing his lips as he thought about just how much 'quick fun' him and Luci had been involved in since the day he met her. His eyes flickered up to Rachel and he shrugged his one shoulder.

"You don't know her very well." He rubbed the side of his neck and flicked his cigarette again, watching the smoke curl for a moment. "She's all about quick fun, serious situations however, she stays clear of for that very reason." He licked his lips. "Or she tries to; hence why I couldn't let her punch out a quarterback the other day."

Blaine watched her pull the jacket tighter around herself, glancing towards the kitchen door before resigning her eyes back to him. He didn't need to be a psychic to understand the look on her face-disappointment, something he knew far too well. He didn't look towards the kitchen to see what had caught her eye but at this point he felt like he knew her well enough to gage that it probably had something to do with a freakishly tall quarterback and a blonde (less than) virgin queen. His mind ticked back and forth with possibilities.

"Try it," He proposed. "One drag is not going to kill you, I promise. Don't you trust me?" He cocked his head and smiled at her, a small sweet smile that was far too easy to trust. And he saw it then, her resolve buckling, a few more presses and sweet, trusting words and she'd be on his lap with a cigarette in her mouth.

He cleared his throat and set his one hand down on his thigh, inching forward a little. His other hand ran through his hair before waving two fingers at her, motioning for Rachel to come closer to where he was sitting.

"How do you know if you really dislike something unless you try it at least once first?" Blaine asked and smiled up at her; her legs had brought her closer to him even though he was sure it was on a subconscious accord. His arm wrapped gently around her waist and tugged her down until she was sitting on his lap, her legs angled between his.

Blaine took in a drag off the cigarette and spoke, the smoke whisping out of his mouth and towards the black night sky. "I think you'd be surprised."

**RACHEL BERRY: **

Rachel had no idea how she had ended up on his lap, only that her body seemed to be drawn towards his and when his hand wrapped around her waist, she didn't stop him from pulling her down. And it wasn't exactly comfortable, sitting like this outside on a deck chair when it was cold, but his arm around her waist and his jacket kept her warm, the smoke trailing above them seeming to hypnotize her as he whispered quietly that she should at least give it a shot.

And she wondered, briefly, if he was still talking about smoking, about taking a hit of his cigarette or if he was purposefully trying to lay down a double meaning. That giving into him and the things she knew he wanted - especially if the way his fingers kept their hold on her waist tight was any indication, the way his eyes would crawl over any and all exposed skin until she fidgeted with nerves, the way he had kissed her back the other day - it wouldn't kill her. It wouldn't be the end of the world.

Maybe she did need to lighten up, to have her fun and to let loose a little. Everyone kept saying she was too tightly wound, that she would never do anything to harm her squeaky clean reputation - what reputation she had, at the very least - but she couldn't deny the temptation that was seemingly always present around him. The one that made her want to forget all about hidden meanings laying behind seemingly innocent words, the one that made her want to grab the front of his shirt and kiss him until neither of them could breathe.

She wasn't supposed to feel this for anyone but Finn, but it didn't matter how many times she said that to herself, it was still Blaine's lap she was sitting in. She had to wrap it around her brain that Finn didn't want her, that it wasn't the worst thing in the world to want Blaine, and as long as she kept her heart guarded -

"Surprise me, then," she finally said, eyes wide at her own words because she wasn't sure she'd even come to a logical conclusion just yet. "Teach me how to do it."

To his credit, he didn't seem surprised, simply took another hit off his cigarette before handing it to her to try. And she'd been around him enough to grasp the basic concept, holding it between her fingers and closing her eyes before trying to take a drag of her own, but the smoke filling her mouth only caused her to choke and hand it back to him, hiding her face in her elbow as she tried to cough the dirty air away, her eyes stinging from the uncomfortable feeling until she could settle down once more, embarrassment flushing her skin.

But she didn't want to give up, not so quickly, and while smoking was a habit she adamantly didn't want to get sucked into, she was determined to prove to herself, to him, to both of them that she could do it.

"I want to try again."

**BLAINE ANDERSON:**

He should have realized that watching Rachel wrap her lips around the cigarette was going to be one of the hottest things he'd ever seen-he controlled himself, surprisingly easily, as he watched her take the hit, his mind drifting to her legs wrapping around his waist or her mouth wrapping around his cock. He wasn't surprised that she had taken him up on his offer, he could see it had been toying around in her head for a few days now; maybe not the prospect attraction of a cigarette but with the allure of _him_. She was buckling in on herself, slowly giving into him because he was different...different in the way that she was, something she weirdly identified with even if she tried to deny it. **  
**

Blaine smirked as she sputtered after the drag, not that it was a startling occurrence. The first hit off a cigarette was always rough and his arm tightened around her waist as she coughed into her elbow , his palm stretching open across her lower back. His fingers pressed into the tense muscles of her lower back, rubbing gently in small circles comfortingly through her coughing jag, his eyes searching her face as she scrunched her nose.

He smirked. "You're doing it wrong," He took the cigarette from between her fingers and tapped the ashes off, rolling his tongue along his lower lip before breathing in another puff. "You need to breathe in the smoke, not just take it into your mouth like you're sucking on a straw."

He handed the cig back to her and shifted on the chair, adjusting her gently on his lap before squeezing her lower back.

"Try again but this time breathe instead of suck." He smirked softly. "I'm sure you know how to do that."

**RACHEL BERRY: **

A dark flush crossed her cheeks at his statement, her own eyebrow raising in question as he handed her the cigarette once more, and she chose to focus on that instead of his words. The words that would only cause explicit images to dance across the forefront of her mind, images that she shouldn't have even entertained in the least, but they always seemed to surface around him.

"Breathe," she replied instead, holding it up to her lips and this time she tried to inhale the smoke, wincing as it hit the back of her throat and she started coughing once more, shaking her head as she passed him back the cigarette. She could have taken it as her bodies way of refusing to let her damage her lungs any, or some sort of sign that she was in over her head, but she was determined to at least make this evening count for something. Kurt had gone through far too much work to pretty her up for her to waste it on nothing.

"Teach me," she demanded instead, sitting herself more comfortably on his lap and letting one of her hands fall to his knees; it was a simple touch, just something for her to hold onto to keep her grounded in reality when everything about the situation seemed so completely _un_real. "There's that thing I always hear people talking about...shot gunning, or something. Do that."

She'd overheard Santana talk about it once before; how Puck had done it to her one night when they were getting high before they hooked up, and while Rachel had been disgusted at the time the thought was dangling in front of her as an excuse to be even closer to him, to give in like they both knew she wanted to once more.

"Unless, of course, you have to get back to Luci," she said, almost as a challenge, seeing if he would back down or give into her.

**BLAINE ANDERSON:  
**The blush was almost innocent, endearing, probably would have been a lot more convincing if she wasn't dressed like she was visiting a corner after this party tonight. He watched her closely as she played with the cigarette between her fingers, like she was weighing a few thoughts in her head; she had obviously never handled a cig before. She was careless with the ash gathering at the tip and he was worried for a few fleeting moments that the embers were going to tumble and singe her skin. She fucked up the second attempt at taking a drag, her lungs buckling in her chest and giving her a nice healthy coughing fit. Her body vibrated in his lap with the force of it, her hand on his knee clenching as a rough burst of air left her system.

He bit the inside of his cheek on a comment that wanted to slide out from under his tongue-Miss Know it All couldn't figure out how to take a drag on a cigarette, couldn't even learn with the breathe not suck instruction. He shook his head, smiling as he took the cigarette from her again, sighing when he waited for her to stop hacking between his legs.

He was pretty sure his eyes nearly bulged out of his head in interest when she brought up shotgunning, he had half a mind to ask her where she had heard it from because the Lord above knew that she hadn't done it before.

Blaine couldn't help the small chuckle that tumbled from his lips. Jesus Christ. "_You_ want to shotgun?" He shook his head, squeezing the canister of the cigarette between his two fingers.

It wasn't even the fact that she wanted to do it but that she wanted him to _teach _her how to do it. Honestly, if she couldn't follow directions about breathing and not sucking how the hell was he going to instruct her on how to take smoke from his mouth. Seconds ticked by, her words echoing in his head; it wouldn't hurt would it. Besides, the whole point of this was that her lips were going to be on his. Smoke or not, the fact that she could either do it successfully or not, it all faded into bits of disconcern in his head because _Rachel's _mouth was going to be on _his_.

That should have been a deal within itself. One step closer to his endgame. One. Single. Step. Closer.

"Sure," He smiled softly. "I can teach you whatever you want." His eyes trailed down her body, landing on the exposed skin of her thighs before flickering his eyelashes up, hazel connecting with coffee brown.

He hummed, shaking his head as the brunette brought up his best friend. He saw what she was doing and if he wasn't involved in a bet, he'd be calling her out on her petty, jealous and pathetic insecurities-but he had other things in mind, more important goals to reach. And insulting her was not going to get her into bed with him.

"Luci can take care of herself," Blaine shifted uncomfortably. "She has a radar for finding me when she needs me, how about you worry about yourself." He ran his hand through his curls before looking at the bud of the cigarette. Halfway gone, he could spare another to start this enlightening experience.

He squeezed her waist as he leaned to the side and snubbed out the butt and lit another, taking in a long drag to get it started. He licked his lips, the smoke burning his lungs and the back of his throat, a sensation he had long gotten used to.

"Alright, I'm guessing you know the basis of shotgunning otherwise you wouldn't have asked me to teach you. When I take a drag and blow it straight back into your throat you need to breathe it in, or you're going to choke on it, understand?"

He waited for her to nod or to say nevermind (when he started waiting for girls to back out of things when they had already agreed to them, like he was worried about them being comfortable or some shit, was beyond him) and then took a hit. Blaine leaned up in the chair and wrapped his hand around her neck, yanking her down. He placed his lips on hers, waiting for her mouth to open...and when it tentatively did, he blew the smoke into her awaiting lungs.

**RACHEL BERRY: **

She was worried about herself, though not necessarily about the smoking so much as Blaine himself. Her brain kept yelling at her, _danger, back away, run as far as possible_, but she only seemed to move closer into him as he put out one cigarette and lit another. Her hand rested on his shoulder, her eyes wide as she watched him inhale deeply, trying to mentally prepare herself for the moment he would try and push it into her own lungs.

It was more effective than it had been when she took drags on her own, the smoke swirling down her throat and filling her up until she had to back off to breathe, though she didn't cough this time, an incredible improvement to the previous attempts and she closed her eyes to let the nicotine hit her system. It wasn't a huge effect, she knew, but the lightheadedness was almost overwhelming and she fought against the instinct to ask him to do it again.

The truth was she didn't want another hit; one had been way more than enough for her, and all she really wanted was the excuse to touch him. But he hadn't pushed her away yet, had only pulled her onto his lap and ran his fingers across her back and the other day it had been her to push him off, not the other way around.

Excuses and alibis were useless when they both knew the truth, that she wanted him in a way she just wasn't used to, so there was no point in trying to come up with them and wasting time before Kurt inevitably found her and dragged her far, far away.

"I-" she started, but she cut herself off before she could really begin, instead just moving forward until her lips were brushing his, light and hesitant as if he would push her away, but he didn't, only put his cigarette out before pulling her closer, his mouth opening to let her tongue slide in effortlessly as her fingers dug into his shoulders, trying to keep her hold on him.

Because it was even more intense now than it had been the afternoon in the parking lot; she wasn't backing down or running away, only inviting him in closer as she turned the angle of her head, trying to somehow get him deeper under her skin while her fingers scraped at any spot on his body he could find, trying to grasp onto him and drag him as deep as she feared she was already falling into this.

**BLAINE ANDERSON:**

Ironically enough, Rachel was always surprising him. Regardless of her stick in the mud reputation, every damn time he thought he'd have to work harder to rope her in she'd go and do a stupid nonsensical action like this and astound the shit out of him. It had taken one damn breath of a kiss-his lips barely moving against hers in any sort of rhythmic fashion, it had been shotgunning, as simple as that. Lips brushed so he could blow the smoke in his lungs into hers, the brushing of mouths hadn't been deep, hadn't included tongue and sure as hell hadn't warranted what she was doing now-which was startlingly close to assaulting him with her tongue.

But he sure as hell didn't mind.

He fumbled to put out the cigarette, maneuvering her on his lap so she was more or less straddling his legs,

as wide as her measly pencil skirt would allow. His mind wandered to what was underneath, probably the hint of maroon lace, so incredibly different than that flash of yellow he had been exposed to on the first day she caught his eye. Her outfit was more adult like, sexy, and no doubt her underwear and bra matched the outward appearance. His legs shook a little as he ground up into her, swaying his hips as his hands gripped the back of her waist tight, he needed no help deepening the kiss, his tongue caressing the side of her mouth before dipping along the center, her own tongue finding his instantly. He hummed, his hand moving to lace in her long, silky locks, his hips grinding up into her again until he heard it-a soft mew of pleasure rumble from the back of her throat. Virgins were so easy to get riled up, the slightest hint of friction and they were puddles at your feet. He'd have to take his time with her, he realized, he'd have to work her up to sex. It wouldn't be worth it if he got her into bed and she came right through the foreplay. How in the hell would that win him any sort of satisfaction?

Blaine moved his lips from her mouth, working his way to her throat, sucking the tender skin near her pulse point. His fingers squeezed her waist, dangerously close to dipping past the fabric, his heart ramming in his chest-

and then a door opened, he could hear the soft bang in the back of his mind, through the fog of arousal.

"Blaine?"

Wait...he knew that voice. Just-

He pulled back a little and scrunched his eyebrows together. "Luci?"

He looked over at the girl hovering in the doorway, looking upset, her jacket wrapped around her like she was trying to absorb the material. His brain had to re-start, all he could think about was Rachel Berry on his fucking lap and the semi hardon pressing against the zipper of his jeans. He shook his head, like that would help clear his confusion and frowned.

"What...what's the matter?" He asked, moving to set Rachel aside.

**RACHEL BERRY: **

It took her by surprise, him grinding his hips up into hers, and the noise she made was nearly silent even in the quiet of the outdoors, but she dragged her hips down against his own, testing the waters and surely this wasn't supposed to feel as good as it did, her breath slightly ragged when he pulled away to cover her neck with marks. Her eyes closed against the action, thinking that maybe if she didn't see him do it she could claim naivety when someone asked where they had come from; she couldn't claim drunkenness or blame it on any drugs. This was all her, completely and totally, and regardless of how much trouble it got her in, she wanted nothing more than to get lost in the moment.

Except, even as his fingers started to push away fabric, she was abruptly returned back to earth by a simple call of his name that hadn't come from her own mouth; her back went rigid and she tried in vain to fix her appearance as she noticed Luci standing in the doorway, her fingers combing through her hair and she stood off Blaine's lap even as he tried to move her off anyways.

It stung, in a place where Rachel wouldn't want to admit because there was no point in thinking along lines like that. Not when Blaine would always choose Luci, wanted Rachel for nothing more than physical attention, and it didn't even matter that Luci was obviously faking things just to get his attention back to her instead of Rachel. She didn't need to be a mind reader to know that; Rachel herself would have done the same if she thought it would do her any good.

The fake pseudo-tears Luci seemed to be forcing out and the small, quiet, upset voice might have fooled Blaine but Rachel merely narrowed her own eyes in return. She could see the way Luci's finger pinched into the skin of her elbow, hard enough to force a few tears to trickle down her cheeks until Blaine seemed to have completely forgotten all about Rachel in order to figure out what was wrong with his friend; she'd fake cried enough to know the familiar tactics that Luci seemed willing to pull.

Rachel paid their conversation no mind, merely pulling her skirt down to the height it was supposed to go to and when Blaine left momentarily, leaving her alone with Luci, Rachel almost panicked. But she saw an opportunity as the redhead turned to watch Blaine walk away, Rachel moving swiftly across the deck until the girls wrist was between her fingers.

"You're faking it," Rachel hissed, Luci staring at her in slight shock. "I'd know that fake whine anywhere. Just because he's not giving _you _his attention doesn't mean you have to make a scene. If he wanted you right now, it'd be you he was going after. We both know him well enough to know he chases what he wants."

She seemed almost amused at Rachel's accusation, shifting on her feet and glancing towards the deck door where Blaine had disappeared through before looking back at her, traces of tears gone, tracks on her face and her eyes a bit red from the effort of it all.

"You don't know anything about him," She sneered. "So do us both a favor and stop pretending you do. The point is if he wanted to stay with you, he would. You're right, Blaine goes after what he wants...and I'm obviously more important than your little _first _time experience out here, Berry. Don't you have a quarterback to pine over?"

Rachel narrowed her eyes even more at that, ready to retaliate when Blaine reappeared, oblivious to the tension between the two girls and she decided her dignity had taken enough of a hit, she wouldn't stay where she obviously wasn't wanted.

"Have fun you two," she said, almost sickly sweet and dripping with sarcasm before she pushed past them both, back into the warmth of the kitchen and heading anywhere that wasn't near them, hoping she could find Kurt quickly enough to demand he take her home.

**BLAINE ANDERSON:  
**He could tell she was the tiniest bit drunk, that at least was evident. He knew her well enough by now that the onslaught of tears probably had a lot to do with that. Luci rarely got upset around him, she hated showing raw emotions like that unless she _had _to-they embarrassed her and Blaine wasn't exactly well versed in dealing with feelings. He usually avoided her or tried to when he could tell she was going to cry; he wasn't sure how many times he had to go over how much he hated when girls cried. He couldn't fucking stand it, it was the only time where he felt completely confused and powerless, no clue what to do or the right words to say. But if she was letting tears spill over her lashes in front of him, if she had gone searching him out because she was upset, then it must have been something bad.

Blaine gently set Rachel aside, not looking back once as he approached her, wanting to wrap his jacket around her shaking shoulders but he had already done that with one girl tonight. He sighed, unable to be fully annoyed with her for ruining his chances at something with Rachel tonight. His one step closer had taken eight steps back.

"What happened?" He asked softly, touching her arm when he was close enough.

She swallowed and shook her head, her lower lip wobbling. Her fingers squeezed the skin of her elbow, probably trying to distract herself from tearing up even more, but it just made it worse and more tears cascaded down her already pink cheeks.

"Talk to me." Blaine swallowed, squeezing her gently, his hand moving to play with the ends of her curls.

Luci sniffled, shrugging her one shoulder. "One of the football players tried to slip something in my drink. I almost took whatever it was. I managed to-" She bit down on her lower lip and Blaine felt an anger well up in his chest that reminded him of the day the jocks destroyed her painting. "Can you just take me home?" Her voice cracked and he nodded.

"Yeah of course, let me go find your coat." He squeezed her arm and disappeared inside, gone for a few minutes before he reappeared and wrapped it around her shoulders.

Blaine swallowed as Rachel stalked past them, in her regular storm off that was far too typical of her but looked odd in her sexified outfit.

"What happened out here? Rachel realize that she finally needed to inform Finn about his family in the arctic?"

Luci shook her head. "Nothing," She said softly, shuffling her feet, a touch of a smile gracing her lips. "Did you just refer to Finn as the abominable snowman?"

Blaine smirked, tapping her nose with his finger. "Maybe. Meet me at the car?"

He didn't wait for her response before heading back inside, instantly finding Rachel in the kitchen. He hooked onto her arm and smiled. "If you want to continue that one day between classes, you just let me know." He smirked.

**RACHEL BERRY: **

She wandered around before winding up back in the kitchen once more, irritated that she couldn't find Kurt anywhere or even Puck - it may have been his party, but she was sure if she pulled a move such as the one Luci had just tried, he would bring Rachel home regardless. She just wanted to disappear, to hide away in her room and put on sad music and cry, but she had to get there first and it was damn near impossible with the sheer number of people crowding around her and hiding any she actually needed from view.

Except of course, Blaine; once more his hand was on her arm and her attention on him as he suggested they continue what they had been doing on the deck. And she wanted more than anything to tell him she'd have to pass, she had more important things to do and better opportunities elsewhere; make him feel as used as she felt whenever Luci came back around, but she kept her mouth shut before walking away with nothing more than a roll of her eyes.

She knew, without a doubt, that Blaine would follow just as she knew he would leave her for Luci within minutes; he liked to stay in a relative shroud of mystery and disbelief, but the truth was he was no more complex than he was, and someone brushing him off would only throw him off.

"You'll probably only get mad at me for this," she said as they walked through the main hallway, couples littered around the walls and pawing at one another until she stopped midway, turning to glare at him. "But she's faking it. She doesn't like your attention being diverted from her, because she's _in love with you, _but you're still trying to pretend you don't notice that too."

"It's funny," she continued, a completely unamused laugh falling from her lips, "that you don't seem to notice things like that but you have no problem noticing me pining after Finn, and how badly that's going. But any time Luci so much as frowns, you go running. She's your best friend, I understand, but she's also playing you, _hard_."

She could see his lips turn into a frown, annoyance crossing his face and she smirked slightly as she shook her head, "You can go after her, fix the non-existent problem, _or_ we can return to what we were doing," she offered, not giving him a chance to really answer her before she was pushing him back against the wall, her mouth resuming what it had been doing earlier, kissing him deep and raking her hands through his hair until she was sure there was only one option he could really see fit.

**BLAINE ANDERSON:  
**

He was a little bit annoyed with her hard to get routine seeing as how he had nearly gotten her to spread her legs wide on the back fucking porch not ten minutes ago but he followed her around the kitchen corner anyways and into a more secluded hallway to 'talk' or whatever fuck else she wanted to do in private. He was confused as to why she thought he'd be mad at her, being angry indicated that he gave a fuck about her, about her crazy ass feelings, about the fact that she was pissed off about something that he wasn't quite sure he understood. He rolled his eyes, gritting his teeth on a 'spit it out Berry' before she filled him in on what exactly she had been getting at.

He scoffed and shook his head-_because she's in love with you-_every rumor he had ever heard about her was suddenly swirling back into view, he was actually considering her to be off her fucking rocker because seriously _Luci _in love with him? Just because she liked to fuck around as much as he did, depended on him even though he didn't deserve it because that was the sort of thing best friends did, just because he cared for her more than he might have realized when he couldn't turn off a blinking CARE sign in his fucking chest every time he saw tears didn't mean that she was in love with him or that it even goddamn mattered because he didn't love her. Not like that. Never like that.

And now, _now _he was angry at her. Because not only was she pulling this shit out of thin air, she had an indignant stick up her ass as well, like he was purposely acting like a dumbass about this, Finn fucking Hudson in the flesh apparently, dubious to everything around him. Fat fucking chance.

He didn't have a lot of experience in terms of feelings or emotions or anything remotely close to understanding that but he _did _know that there was only one person he could actually trust and depend on, someone who actually had his back and was honest with him, someone who stuck with him regardless of how much of an asshole he was-and _that _was Luci.

Blaine glared at her, his hands balling into fists. "You don't know the first thing about Luci," He snapped, his arms settling against the wall and creating a cage around her body. "So do me a giant favor and stop pretending like you know anything about her _or _me."

Her lips crashing into his was something completely unexpected and to be honest it was the first time it wasn't something he wanted. But she was insistent and the turning of tables as she pressed him against the wall peaked his interests more than he liked to admit. But he refused to let her have the upper hand, he was the one in charge damnit. He was the one who wanted to make her feel like she wouldn't be able to think about anything else but him tonight.

So he pulled her close and wrapped his one leg around the back of hers, grinding into her like he had before. He laced his fingers in her hair, kissed her deep until she was damn near panting for him and then-

pulled back, licking his lips in a calm manner.

His eyes ticked back and forth as he looked at her, pushing her back. "How's it feel to be _played_?" He asked, moving past her and down the hall to meet up with Luci outside at his car.


	5. It Don't Mean a Thing

**Title**: _It Don't Mean a Thing_ 5/? (Part of: _**Cigarette burned Stars**_ verse)  
**Pairing**: blainchel  
**Summary**: Rachel reluctantly agrees to go on a date with Blaine after he promises it'll be worth her while since he wants to make up for ditching her at the party-but it turns out that Rachel is in over her head once she sees what Blaine has planned.  
**Authors**: civillove (Blaine) & berrywarbler (Rachel)  
**Rating**: PG-13  
**Author's note**: Like we have to explain who is who, but just in case :P Also blainchel written by blainchel means that it's the best blainchel xoxo  
**Author's note 2: **This reads in RP format because…well it's basically an RP that we're posting as fic. _You're welcome_.

**RACHEL BERRY:**

Rachel had never felt more used in her entire life. Being flung aside for Luci because she 'needed' Blaine was harsh, and yet Rachel found herself falling asleep wearing the leather jacket he had tucked around her shoulders, tears crawling down her cheeks even as she tried to deny them.

There was a lot she was trying to deny, she realized when she'd woken up the next morning. Like the fact that maybe her feelings for Blaine had deepened beyond something purely physical; her craving to be around him constantly overwhelming and scaring her all the same. But she couldn't, wouldn't - he had made a choice, she figured, the night he left with Luci. For someone that claimed to know she was better than second place, he had done a poor job at showing it.

But she couldn't hold onto his jacket forever, tempting as the thought was, and come Monday she found herself sweet talking Puck into breaking into his locker for her.

"It's not like you to break rules, Berry," he said as he used one of her bobby pins to break the lock. "You hanging out with this jerk off?"

Rachel sighed as she shook her head, trying to keep an eye out to make sure Blaine wouldn't stumble upon her, or worse- Luci. Her mild dislike for the girl had blown into a full grown hatred over the weekend; she could understand doing anything for the attention of the boy you loved, but having it happen against her was irritating and grating.

"No," she finally answered as the locker popped open, Puck grinning widely in pride. "I just ran into him the other night and he had an off-moment of chivalry."

Puck glanced at her for a moment before wrapping his arm around her waist loosely, planting a kiss to the top of her head and she remembered how kind he had been during their own fleeting romance, but he left with a quick "Be careful, Berry. Don't let this jackass break your heart," and she was alone once more.

_Don't let him break your heart_, like it was that easy to shove Blaine away from under her skin and out of her brain. This was why she couldn't confide in anyone about Blaine, she mused as she shoved his coat into his locker, trying to hang it nicely even as if kept falling. No one seemed to understand that even if he was a jerk and pissed her off, there was a side to him that she knew lay beneath, someone that could, one day, grow to care for her.

If he ever even wanted to.

**BLAINE ANDERSON:**  
He was practically pissed off all weekend-even his mother noticed out of her sunshine stupor one morning when she was making some kind of cupcake she saw on a food channel. She ran her hand through his bedhead curls and he tried not to flinch and snap at her when she asked 'what's the matter dear? is it a girl, is it school?' before turning back to her cupcakes and homemade icing that he won't even touch. He waved her off, told her it was nothing-because seriously, it wasn't. Did he grow a vagina along with his bruised ego that he's seriously injured by Rachel Grandma-Sweater Berry's words that he doesn't know Luci as well as he thinks he does?

_She's practically in love with you._

Yeah, right. At least he was confident within the fact that Rachel didn't know shit about love any more than he did and while they were in fact different, it wasn't like she was an expert on relationships. She was trying to fuck with him, that had to have had something to do with it; and while he had no idea why she was all of a sudden trying to come between him and Luci...he couldn't fucking stop himself from paying close attention to his best friend the rest of the weekend. Just to see. He had her over all day Sunday to watch _The Walking Dead_, she was still a little shaken up with her run in with the pill popping football player at the party the other night so he pulled her in for a marathon to get her mind off of it. Inbetween the zombies dying on TV, slices of pizza and cheap wine coolers, he moved closer to her, getting into her space-was there a difference in the way she looked at him, did her breath hitch in her chest when he teased her, when he got into her personal space, tempting her with suggestive flirty innuendos like he always did? Was there something else in her eyes, weighing options in her head, did she lick her lips because she was thinking about kissing him...or something else? Did Rachel have a fucking clue with what she was accusing her of...or was he right in thinking Rachel didn't know her ass from her elbow as far as love was concerned.

Luci hadn't acted any differently, she still rolled her eyes and said she'd rather choke on Karofsky then take his cock in her mouth again, she still let him kiss her cheek without blushing as bright as a firetruck, still let him make fun of her art even though they both knew she was quite good and they were both able to talk about with bet on Rachel without Luci sounding like a jealous girlfriend.

So Rachel had to have been wrong. She was trying to wedge something between him and his best friend but for what reason was completely beyond him. Maybe she was jealous, he was paying all this attention to her now. Maybe she couldn't take the idea of competition...and if flirting with Luci or making appear closer than they really were worked in his favor...he'd have to keep that in mind the next time all of them were in the same vicinity. His findings, however, he was going to keep to himself-Rachel didn't need to know that he had actually taken her words into consideration and tried them out. He didn't need to get pissed off all over again if she tried to disprove them and make Luci look bad. So he'd just let it go and get back down to business of getting her into bed.

Unfortunately he had gotten so frustrated at the party that he had lashed out at her, probably embarrassing to the point of making her cry. He knew he shouldn't have cared, that she sort of deserved it after everything, but upsetting her didn't really sit right with him.

He could worry about it later, he had managed to make it throughout most of the day without seeing her. For some reason he was giving Monday the old college try, had made it through Science, Social Studies and was in the middle of Gym before he decided enough was enough. He needed a cigarette and to get away from the student population, Gym was _torturous_ , there was only so many times he could see some kid in a wheelchair get hit with a dodgeball because the teacher wasn't paying attention.

He'd go to his locker, get his things, change back into his clothes and slip out to smoke a cig, maybe wait for Luci to get done with school and convince her to skip with him tomorrow. He rounded the corner of the hallway, his sneakers squeaking against the unpolished, scuffed up floor, the ends of his black sweatpants dragging a little over his shoes. He tugged them up, adjusting the elastic before pulling his red t-shirt, which fit across his chest perfectly and hugged his biceps, down to comfortably rest over his waistband.

Blaine stopped short however when he heard murmurings near a set of lockers that his was a part of-and found no one other than Noah Puckerman and Rachel. He squinted to try and see what they were doing, his leather jacket was in her hand. He was glad she hadn't destroyed it or something else that was fucking crazy that he knew she was more than capable of. He waited a moment for Puck to disappear, not needing a confrontation with the other male unless necessary-he rolled his eyes, that's all he would need, for Luci to go on a tangent on him because he got himself kicked out of school for throwing punches at Puckerman.

He walked down the hall as Rachel shoved his jacket angrily into the locker, his lock (which seems pointless if it can't keep people out when they were friends with Puck) dangled in her other hand.

"Adding breaking and entering to your list of offences?" Blaine asked, leaning into the set of lockers beside her and crossing his arms over his chest in interest. "And by offences, I mean practically everything in your closet."

**RACHEL BERRY:**  
Rachel didn't hear him appear until he was insulting her, Rachel merely rolling her eyes in response. If it hurt - she was trying to pretend it hadn't - it was only because he was normally the only one relatively complimentary towards her appearance.

"Is that the best you can do?" She snapped, slamming his locker shut as she crossed her arms over her chest in defiance. "Santana went into an entire solique this morning about how she'd miss the quote unquote 'slutty Berry' look," she informed him, "not that I'm letting anyone dictate my wardrobe choices anymore."

Dressing like she had hadn't helped her any as it was. Finn stayed glued as ever to Quinn's side and Blaine had still run off with Luci instead of staying with Rachel, so what good was it to wear more revealing clothing when her sweaters were so much more comfortable.

"I was just returning your jacket," she added, "you forgot it in your rush to humiliate me before 'helping' Luci. I figured you needed it back and it's not like it does me any good. Luci might need it, after all," she snapped, her temper threatening to lose control as she remembered how awful she had felt when he ran off.

"Not that I owe you an explanation, but I know of my own reputation enough to clear up that I'm not stalking you, and I'll leave you alone now," she said, her tone as haughty as she could muster before she turned to leave him, trying desperately not to be interested in anything he may have had to say.

**BLAINE ANDERSON:  
**He smiled as she snapped at him, her bruised ego obviously still shining through in all of it's glory. He wanted to tell her to get over it, that shit happened, that she couldn't dwell on shit and mope about someone not wanting her. Didn't she believe in dignity or something like that? Who cares if he left her at a damn drunk fest? Was she trying to tell him she was going to let him take her right there in the damn hallway where he had left her? Un-fucking likely.

He wanted to tell her there were surgeries to permanently remove that stick lodged up her ass but he was still on a mission...and getting into her pants was going to be even more difficult than it already was if she was having god forsaken entitlement issues.

"Well, probably for the best," He mused about her clothing. "Maybe I left you because I was genuinely confused if you had to make the end of street on time." Then he rolled his eyes. "Humiliated you," He muttered. "_Please_, don't put that shit on me, you humiliated _yourself _by trying to dress like someone you're not."

Blaine was glad that she at least had the decency to return what wasn't hers...though he had no idea why she couldn't have just given it to him instead of breaking into his locker. It seemed like this was the perfect opportunity for her to say what she needed to. He rolled his eyes at the mention of Luci, of course, her jealousy was basically stamped all over her face about his best friend. First Finn Hudson and now this; it was borderline pathetic. A small part of him wondered if nailing her into his bed was even damn worth it. He sighed; though...those damn _legs_.

"What's your deal with Luci," Blaine asked, his thoughts circling something. "Are you jealous of her?" He asked, running a hand through his curls. He smiled softly and squeezed around his upper chest a moment. "Because...jealously," He stepped closer, tugging her sweater. "kinda sounds like you're starting to like something about me Berry," Blaine teased, seeing right through her. "It's sort of hot." He grinned and stepped back, fixing his lock on his locker so that it was locked now.

He fiddled with his curls and groaned when she started to stalk off. He gently grabbed her arm so she turned around.

"Wait," Blaine sighed again, trying to say the words he really didn't feel. But fuck the payoff would be worth it. "I'm sorry about abandoning you but," He shrugged. "You kind of took me by surprise." He smiled softly, his thumb running over her elbow. "But Luci is my best friend...I don't even, I don't deserve a friend like her, alright? If she needs me I'm there. It's as simple as that and I'm sorry you can't accept it." He stuck his hands in his sweatpants pockets.

"So come on, I'll make it up to you." Blaine grinned. "Maybe...a date of some kind." She had to go for it, she was puppy love in like with him combined with something completely different with how she felt with Finn, there was something dangerous here that attracted her. And she liked dates right? Girly solo shit like that. If she liked him...any time alone with him to make it up to her would work.

**RACHEL BERRY:**  
Rachel paused with a roll of her eyes as he grabbed onto her arm, glaring at him even as he apologized. She didn't think he was really all that sorry, she wasn't even sure it was an emotion he was equipped to understand, but her face softened when he explained about Luci. She still thought he was blind if he didn't see how Luci was in love with him, playing him into her own fold, but Rachel was hardly one to talk.

Because she was already falling prey to softer words, eyes that seemed almost earnest, and fingers trailing over the crook of her elbow, sending sparks across her skin as she stared up at him. And while she still wasn't fond of Luci, she had some sort of weird trust that Blaine really had no idea that his best friend wanted him. Or that it even mattered if she did.

"A date?" she asked, incredulity seeping through her tone as she raised an eyebrow. "I thought Blaine Anderson wouldn't be caught going on a date. Doesn't that ruin your reputation? Especially to go out with someone like _me_?"

But it was a tempting offer, the promise of Blaine, alone, without interruption for a few hours. She couldn't deny that she was completely thrown off by her own feelings that only seemed to grow every time they interacted, even when he was less than kind to her. Maybe a date would be a good place to test them out, to figure out what they were or if they were real or if she was just too depressed about Finn that she'd throw herself at anyone who gave her attention.

She took a deep breath, turning to face him completely and while she had kept her feelings for Finn as quiet as she could, Blaine was an entirely different person, and she'd never felt the need to hide things from him. "I think we both know that there's some sort of attraction I feel towards you," she started, narrowing her eyes even as he kept his face impassive, "or you wouldn't keep getting under my skin so easily. But if this is all some sort of weird scheme-"

She shook her head, placing her hands on her hips as she stared him down. "I don't claim to understand what it is we're doing here, or when, exactly, my feelings for you changed from mild irritation to something else, but I also don't appreciate being used. So as long as your intentions are honorable, then yes. I will go on a..date, of some kind, with you," she said, finally offering him a small smile.

"Just don't let me regret this, Blaine," she said quietly before spinning once more on her heel to walk down the hall towards her class, nerves and excitement rolling through her before she could stop to think it through too hard.

**BLAINE ANDERSON:**  
He kept his face completely calm and passive, she was folding like a house of cards right in front of him. She spent a lot of time on herself, Blaine understood, even though her peers assumed she didn't take the time to even consider what she was wearing before she left the house. Perfectly organized and color coded by suits, hearts flush against clubs, diamonds stacked edge to edge with spades. House of cards around her, protecting her from boys like him, with ulterior motives, who were less than kind and who couldn't care less. She should have glued them together...because he had just opened a door and let a draft in-her cards didn't stand a chance.

Blaine shook his head a moment, crossing his arms over his chest, like that would somehow prevent the insincerities pulsing through his veins from seeping out between them in the open and exposed. He let out a slow breath through his nose, considering her words carefully in his head. Why was he hesitating on this, _Jesus, _Luci would be asking him where his damn balls were at this fucking point. It was just a bet, _she _was just a bet, what did he care if she had all this hope in her eyes that he was a better person than everyone gave him credit for. That he deserved some sort of silent chance in her eyes. He wanted to pull away from her, tell her to fuck off if she knew what was good for her, that he didn't go on dates, that he didn't even _believe _in them, that he was going to break her heart and why in the hell was she letting his soft voice and trusting eyes lure her in like he had to so many others. Why? She was supposed to be better than this. She was supposed to be better than him.

And the moment that thought passed through his head was the moment he shut that thought off in his brain. It didn't matter that she was standing in front of him in an extremely innocent reindeer fucking sweater or that her eyes were so bright and wide that it seemed like she was trying to analyze some part of his soul. It didn't fucking matter that she was was putting her _trust _in him or that no one had never done that before; not even Luci, not completely. She was making herself vulnerable, she was exposing herself to him, letting him in even though he had no right to see that side of her. Didn't matter; the small thrill in those eyes, the twitch of her lips into a smile, that voice squeezing syllables out that she wasn't sure of-it didn't matter.

Because Rachel Berry didn't matter, especially to him.

A scheme; she had no idea. Blaine felt a smile pull at his lips at the irony and not much else. "Don't read so much into Berry, it's just a date...not a secret agent mission." He smirked. "Alright, some kind of date it is. I'll pick you up at eight!" He called after her as she already started down the hall, hips swaying in a way that made him lick his lips.

With that mouth and those legs he had half a mind to take a poll on just what the hell half the damn school was thinking because..._damn_. It was a mystery to him how at least Puckerman hadn't hit a ball all the way to home. He sighed softly and checked his locker one more time before heading back to gym to at least get half of the day in.

Rachel wouldn't regret this night...at least not yet.

**RACHEL BERRY:**  
A small smile toyed at her lips all day, and while she knew it was illogical to be excited about a night that was sure to disappoint her, she couldn't seem to stop herself. And despite what he might have said, she did know him well enough to know that date's were definitely not up his alley; any of the other girls he'd bedded before that had bragged (or cried) about it were sure to remind her if she had bothered to ask them.

Even Kurt picked up on her joy during glee rehearsals, asking her what she looked so pleased about because it couldn't have been her attempt to win Finn over - not when Finn had an arm wrapped around Quinn's chair, sorrowful glances thrown in Rachel's direction every so often. But it didn't matter much to her, not now - maybe Blaine was a bit unconventional, maybe she was getting in over her head, maybe she was completely wrong, but she just - she had a feeling. Something was happening that she'd never have counted on, and she could give up her fruitless attempts at Finn Hudson in favor of someone...a little more like her.

Because when it was boiled down, Blaine was more like her than he'd probably like to admit. An outsider, an outcast, and while he at least had Luci, he was still relatively alone. And maybe it hadn't been intentional, for him to come bursting into her quiet world and shaking everything up inside of it, but he had and now he had to deal with the consequences of a Rachel who was completely confused as to where her own feelings truly lay.

She raced home after school, knowing that she had time before Blaine was set to pick her up but wanting to make sure she was perfectly coifed and ready regardless. The only problem was that she had absolutely no idea what they were going to do.

A dinner and a movie hardly seemed like something Blaine would endure for her, and she wasn't going to bother dressing in the attire Kurt had shimmied on her when it was evident he was oddly charmed by her normal attire. But an animal sweater - as much as she loved them - was hardly 'date' wear, and she finally settled on a simple navy dress, foregoing her normal tights and she swung her hair up in a simple ponytail, only to take it down and put it back down before wandering around her house, trying to kill time and nerves until he arrived.

**BLAINE ANDERSON:  
**Luci rolled over in bed and positioned herself on her back, sighing softly as she stared at the ceiling. It was painted a pretty auburn color that reminded him of Fall, fake plastic glow in the dark stars, planets and constellations pasted in swirls above her bed where they were. He sighed and turned onto his side, his one arm pillowing his head while his other stretched across her stomach.

"So...let me get this straight, you're going on a date with her?" She asked, her voice vibrating against the underside of his forearm.

"Hmm." He smiled slowly, moving his arm a little to lift his hand. "It's not a date...it's a fact finding mission to see how close I am to getting into her pants." Blaine swallowed, curling his fingers and making his pointer and middle walk across her midsection.

She rolled her eyes, turning her head, the curls laced in her strands tickling his cheek. "It's a _date_. You turning into one of those guys who take girls out to dinner before fucking them Anderson?"

Blaine's eyes flickered to hers, inching closer before their lips were grazing. He smirked as he felt Luci swallow, her knee grazing his thigh as she subconsciously curled closer to him. His fingers inched under her shirt, trying to decide whether or not he should argue her less than obvious hit against his ego. He wasn't sure what her problem was exactly (or maybe he did and just didn't want to acknowledge something deep in the back of his mind, Rachel's words echoing like the beat of a drum) but whatever it was he was choosing to ignore it. Rachel was wrong about Luci and it was as simple as that; they could kiss and fuck around and it meant nothing all the same. It had worked pretty well for them for a while now and he wasn't going to let a girl waltz in between them with absolutely no concept of great sex and try to tell him Luci was anything other than what she seemed to be.

"You going to buy her flowers and a suit for tonight too?"

He shook his head, a slow smile tugging at his lips as he leaned closer and kissed along her jaw. Luci sighed and tried to pull away but his arm slid tightly around her waist, squeezing and holding her in place.

"Do I seem like the dating type?" He asked against her skin; he felt her swallow again and shake her head, pulling back an inch enough so that his mouth wasn't on her. Blaine rolled his eyes and pulled back, moving to a sitting position. He crossed his legs over the other and settled his hands on his thighs. "I'm not romancing her for Christ's sake; I'm going to buy her cheap food and take her somewhere that encourages her to make out with me again. Hardly a date in her Cinderella fairytale eyes I'm sure."

Luci sighed and sat up as well, her wild curls falling over her shoulders unevenly. "What are you doing."  
It wasn't a question and his eyebrows rose in slight confusion and surprise.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean..." She waved the space between them and then pointed towards his chest to indicate his whole being. "This, _you_. This is just a stupid bet and she's just...you're changing into this completely different person..."

He frowned and a crease appeared between his eyebrows. "What are you talking about? Look, have you met Rachel Berry? She's high strung, high maintenance and kind of fucking crazy-not to mention as virgin as the mother of Jesus...she's not going to just spread her legs for me when I say 'jump'. This needs finesse."

"Finesse includes dinner dates and pretending you give a shit?" Her voice was getting louder, having more of an edge to it...she was upset and Blaine didn't get why she was all of a sudden flipping the PMS switch on him.

"Hey, pretending I give a shit takes a lot of time and energy, give me some credit." He interjected, trying to make light of the situation but Luci looked like she was getting more and more pissed by the minute.

Luci scoffed, turning her head to look down at the comforter they were seated on. "She's completely changing you and you don't even see it. You've been up her ass ever since that stupid damn party-"

"Are you _kidding_?" Blaine's mouth opened, starting to get pissed off now-what, did indignant stick in the ass attitudes run in Lima's water supply? "I've barely even spoken to her, she's been avoiding me! And even if I was invested in getting her into my bed, which newsflash I _am_," Luci groaned but Blaine spoke over her. "It wouldn't be any of your goddamn business!"

"I'm the one who agreed to this bet; _I'm_ supposed to be your best friend!"

"How bout you start acting like it then instead of like you're my jealous _girlfriend_!" He snapped, his voice just as loud as hers, the sound of it vibrating in his ears with an annoying buzzing ring afterwards.

She laughed, the sound coming out choked and harsh, anything but humorous. "_Right_, like I want to be your girlfriend," She shook her head, standing up on the one side of her bed. "I barely want to be your fucking friend right now."

Blaine felt a sort of fury build up in his chest, a hot flame kindling behind his ribs. "Then _don't_." His voice was louder than he had intended but he couldn't stop himself. "There's nothing stopping you, you could have dropped my friendship whenever you wanted and yet here you are, sticking by me even though I treat you like utter shit."

She crossed her arms over her chest. "Well maybe instead of caring about Rachel Berry like the fucking princess of reindeer sweaters you should respect someone that's actually stood by you and _deserves _it."

"Just because you have your issues of respect with everyone else in your life doesn't mean you have to group me in with your _father_." Blaine argued, his words surprising her for a moment. He had struck a nerve, a bad one, he could see it in her eyes, the tears gathering. Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck. "Wait..." He swallowed, trying to take it back far too late. "Luci, I didn't mean..."

"Get out." Was all she said, her voice low and insulted, something he just...didn't want to hear from her ever again. Fuck he had _put _that there.

He swallowed and shifted on his feet. "Come on."

"Get out of my room!" She yelled, her lower lip quivering as she wrapped her arms around herself. He sighed softly and picked up his bag, running a hand over his face as he slowly went to the door of her room. He hovered in the doorway a moment, trying to consider whether or not he should actually leave. He apologized again, but she said nothing...and he continued on down the hall to leave.

000

Blaine hadn't meant to be such an asshole to her. In all honesty, she was sort of right. It was just like he had been telling Rachel-he didn't deserve a good friend like Luci and really he was surprised it had taken him this long to fuck it up. He sighed, whatever...maybe that had been boiling up in her for a while now...and even though it hadn't been right for him to say that stuff about her dad (Luci didn't talk about her parents much, they didn't support her career to be an artist, but when she did he could tell that her dad held little respect for her-it was very readable in the way he talked to her and his body language when Blaine was over) he had just gotten so pissed off at this silent battle between her and Rachel. He just didn't fucking get why girls needed to cat fight-it was so not as sexy as it sounded.

Whatever, at least the fight had served a purpose-he was completely focused for his so called date tonight with Rachel. He showed up on time, pair of simple jeans, a black t-shirt with a green sweater, hands in his pockets, smiling a little when she opened the door to him.

He could do this, he could be charming and get a reward for it. It was worth the wait; he wasn't backing down at this point. A fucking date where he acted like the perfect gentleman wasn't going to break him.

"Hey," Blaine licked his lips, eyes ticking to her outfit. "Nice..." He smirked. "Glad you didn't dress to the nines or wear your Saturday special hooker corner clothes for this, we're going nowhere fancy...but it'll be fun and I'd be willing to bet in saying that it'll be counted as one of your firsts." He smiled slowly.

**RACHEL BERRY:  
**Rachel felt a flush crawl over her skin, _one of _her firsts, like he knew anything about what she had and had not done. Even if he didn't mean it like that - and she doubted that, because there was always a double layered meaning in his words, the slight innuendo if you paid even the tiniest bit of attention towards him - it was becoming more and more prominent in the front of her own mind.

"I've been on dates before," she told him as she closed the door to her house behind her, following him to his car. "Puck took me to a movie during our brief fling, and Finn took me bowling once..." she trailed off, chewing anxiously on her lip before shaking her head clear. The point wasn't to wallow about Finn and What Could Be; it was to spend time with Blaine and for her, at least, to see if they stood a real chance. To see if her feelings were reciprocated and if they were, what the two of them could do about it.

She had an idea her options varied from his own.

"Where are we going?" she asked after she settled into the passenger seat, letting her eyes focus on the forest green of his sweater, how it picked up on the green hues in his eyes. He was trying, she realized even as he shrugged and told her they could go get food first, and it was almost endearing how hard he was fighting against admitting to that.

"I am a vegan, you know," she offered, a gentle reminder with her soft voice, and while she'd never have expected him to actually know that, he gruffed out a small 'yes, I know' and Rachel sat back in her seat, watching the streets pass by as music played quietly on his radio.

She hummed quietly, not taking particular notice of where they were heading until she heard 'shit, shit,' come from Blaine and he whirled the car around, heading in the opposite direction that they had been heading in.

"What?" Rachel asked, suddenly hesitant that he'd changed his mind, decided he didn't actually want to spend any time with her, her gut coiling with nerves and even if it was a ridiculous immediate reaction, all she could think was that she'd been too high maintenance for him, his attention was already gone and he'd rather go drink and fuck around with Luci than actually get to know the real Rachel, the one hidden behind animal sweaters and an abrasive personality. "Is everything okay?"

**BLAINE ANDERSON:**

He should have known that the minute he picked her up that she'd be a continuous stream of commentary and questions. She'd been on dates before, he bit his tongue on telling her a dry 'congratulations', that she was vegan and a few times of 'where are we going' all before he managed to pull out of her driveway. He wondered how long she'd continue to fill the silence between them if he chose to remain quiet. Maybe it was ingrained in her to always talk and leave no moments for awkward silences or maybe she had learned that if she kept quiet that no one would listen to what she had to say, look her over like an unappreciated grandma sweater. Whatever the reason, he wish she'd understand that not all things had to have an answer or an easy solution; not everything was black and white and it wouldn't kill her to live in gray every so often.

Blaine knew she was a vegan or some shit; actually he had confused it with a vegetarian earlier today when he considered where in the fuck he could take her to eat and well, at least she was confirming it for him before he looked like a dumbass. So basically, vegan meant anything remotely good or edible tasting was out of the question...fucking fantastic, they could have _water_. He ran a hand through his curls, half listening to her as he drove to a red light.

"I'm not telling you where we're going, sit back and enjoy the ride." Blaine went to check for his phone to see if he could pull up a map of Lima, thinking about this one Tofu place in town that he had drove past the one time and swore he'd never fucking step foot in (the things he was doing to get his dick sucked) and swore quietly when he realized he didn't have his wallet.

He groaned and waved her off as she asked him if everything was alright, turning the car around when the light turned green. The tires screeched and buckled under the sharp turn and he adjusted himself in the seat, turning the music down.

"I forgot my wallet, we have to swing back to my house." He glanced at her and smirked with amusement at the slight uneasiness in her eyes. "Don't look so panicked, I'm not taking you to the hood for Christ's sake, I live on the same street as the Fabray's remember?"

Blaine recalled telling her once to disregard all the rumors she had heard about where he lived but apparently there was still some superficial doubt and worry about where he called home. He passed her house again as they drove down the street and turned left down a windy road, the trees looming and making their dark impressionable shadows on the car from the high moon overhead of them.

"So unless you're worried about seeing that abominable snowman at Quinn's, I promise it's safe. Besides...the Anderson household only sacrifices virgins during the weekend." He quipped, making fun of the cookie cutter high class (well as high class as Lima, Ohio could get) neighborhood he lived in, smiling slowly at her as he tried to get her to relax the white knuckled grip she had on her knee.

Blaine pulled into his driveway, his house mimicking the size and shape of those around it. It was slightly larger than Rachel's, typical pale and perfectly straight stone bricks outlining the outside, a wrap around white porch with various wind chimes clanking and singing near the front door, the roof was painted a pale blue which turned navy at night and the walkway to front steps was lined up with miniature lamp posts that always reminded him of colonial Washington D.C.

He turned his car off and pulled the keys out, glancing at her a moment...he had no idea where his wallet was and he couldn't leave his car running or leave her outside without the heat on. Fuck.

"Uh, come on. Just...come in while I look for this damn fucking thing." He opened his car door and waited for her to join him before walking up to his house, unlocking the door and letting her inside.

He looked around a moment as he closed the front door, his mom nowhere to be found, which was good...maybe she had fallen asleep upstairs with whatever wine bottle she was currently dating. The house was neat and clean, it smelled like wood cleaner and some sort of cinnamon apple air freshener, there were a few of his clothes scattered about the living room to their left, a mix of Luci's sweaters and painting things from when she visited and slept over and an assortment of books stacked and opened on the coffee table.

"Wait here." He told her and moved to head upstairs to his room to look for his wallet.

Blaine should have known to either not bring Rachel inside or to at least not leave her alone for more than five minutes, he could hear them conversing as he made it back downstairs, wallet in his back pocket.

"Well, Rachel, you certainly are a beautiful girl," His mother gushed, making Blaine roll his eyes as he approached the living room. "It's a shame Blaine didn't mention about going out tonight, I would have loved to meet you before this..."

"You were upstairs," Blaine muttered, leaning against the doorframe. "I didn't want to bother you." Half true, he didn't want her to bother him either. "Rachel, let's go."

"Oh, well where are you going?"

"Out to eat." He said, trying to get Rachel's attention to shake his head at her but it was too late, the minute she mentioned she was a vegan his mother grinned, clapping her hands in excitement.

"Oh! You have to stay and let me cook for you," She exclaimed, looking at Rachel as she said something that sounded like 'Oh, Mrs. Anderson, we couldn't...'.

Blaine groaned, giving her a look that said 'well it's too fucking late now, Berry' as his mom shooed her off, saying nonsense. She reached over and gently took the sweater that Rachel was wearing off to hang up by the door.

"I have this wonderful vegetable casserole I can make that I saw on the food channel yesterday and please, call me Miranda, I insist." She passed them both as she headed to the kitchen, muttering something about peppers and broccoli.

He ran a hand over his face, shaking his head. "Guess I don't need my wallet now." He muttered, more to himself than to her.

This was so _not _what he had in mind.

**RACHEL BERRY:**  
Rachel walked hesitantly inside his house, nodding when he told her to stay put. She didn't, of course, but she also didn't travel further into the house than to look at the pictures lining the walls; pictures of Blaine and what must have been an older brother, pictures of Blaine and his mother, of him and Luci even - it was interesting, in a way, to see the way he was around the people closest to him. Even when his smile was evidently forced, he looked almost happy. Especially the younger pictures of him - all wild curls and wrapped up in the older boy who reappeared several times on the wall - and she frowned for a minute, wondering exactly what had gone so disastrously wrong to turn him so cynical and closed off now.

"Hello," a voice that definitely did not belong to Blaine called out, skeptical as Rachel whirled around to face his mother. She definitely wasn't prepared for this, but she smiled broadly anyways, remembering her manners before holding out a hand to greet the woman properly.

"Hi," she replied brightly, "I'm Rachel Berry. I'm a...friend, of Blaine's," she offered as Mrs. Anderson pulled her into the kitchen, her eyes immediately turning to the stairs to see if Blaine would catch her before his mom waved her off.

"I didn't know Blaine had a new...friend," she said, her inflection on the word 'friend' slightly teasing, though Rachel was sure the mockery was pointed at her son and his inability to actually keep to a girl for longer than four seconds than Rachel herself.

Rachel was about to reply that they had simply shared a class together when Blaine reappeared, annoyance written loud as day across his face. And she tried to save him - both of them, really, because she wasn't sure she could get through an entire meal with his mother going on as little about him as she really did, - but she wouldn't listen to her arguments that it wasn't needed, simply taking her cardigan and disappearing in a flourish only to leave her alone with Blaine once more.

"I'm sorry," she whispered as they moved towards the living room. "I was just standing there, and she found me. I didn't - I didn't realize she was here, to be honest." She chewed nervously at her bottom lip, looking at him with worried eyes. "I know that it may not exactly have been what you had planned, but - it can't be bad, right? Your mom seems really nice, after all," she offered with a small smile.

**BLAINE ANDERSON:  
**Blaine huffed out a swear word that was a lot more vulgar than he intended but Jesus, first this fucking date thing and _now _he had to deal with his mother and Rachel cabitzing during the entirety of dinner until he could get her out of here. He should have never brought her inside or well, maybe Luci was right, maybe he _was _goddamn changing. A month ago he never would have brought a girl out on a date just to get past the elastic of her underwear. Where the fuck was his dignity?

He pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head at Rachel as she followed him back into the living room and whispered out a sorry. He was well aware that this technically wasn't her fault, he probably should have figured his mom would find her like a damn vulture to a carcass the minute they walked in the door-but he had been hoping that he would have been able to find his wallet fast enough to get out of there before that could happen. It wasn't that he didn't love his mother, he did, he respected her a lot more than it appeared. She was the one he was going to school for and trying not to get kicked out while he was at it, he was the one sticking around when every instinct told him to run away to Luci's or maybe even out of Ohio and back to LA to where Cooper was. It was just...this damn woman wasn't his mother; she hadn't been the same since his father cheated on her and forced for a divorce. She was this shell of a person, filling up empty spaces with wine and the FOOD channel, incredibly happy and easygoing because she didn't know how else to be. There could be worst, he assumed, but he wasn't going to pretend like he liked this any better.

He scoffed and rolled his eyes, laughing softly at Rachel's comment. "Course she is," Blaine glanced at the stairwell and cocked his head. "Come on, we're not staying down here while she cooks. She tends to turn on the radio and sing at full blast like she's Judy fucking Garland." Well, she was certainly lost in the headspace of Oz, that was for damn sure.

Blaine turned on the light so that the stairwell was illuminated and started up the steps, making sure she was following him before he went down the hall to his room. He could hear the radio start up as he opened his door, flipping the switch to his overhead light as he let her walk in. His room was spacious, the house he lived in was an older structure even though the house looked brand new from the outside, which just meant the rooms were typically bigger. It wasn't much to look at to be quite honest, there was a swishy cloud looking mural on his one wall compliments of Luci, the other walls a light blue color, there were two windows with evergreen curtains, a desk, a queen sized bed and a few nightstands. His room was the only room in the house that didn't have carpeting (other than the kitchen, of course), a dark auburn colored finished wood underneath Rachel's flats. He picked up a few pieces of clothing straying on random furniture and stuffed it into his closet, shutting the door with his foot.

"Su casa and all that jazz." He muttered, glancing at the bed to see that Luci had left a various amount of sweatshirts and sketchbooks there (it was like her second damn bedroom) and picked them up so that Rachel had somewhere to sit if she wanted. He set them down on his desk and licked his lips, closing the sketchbooks to keep her art a privacy and looked over at her.

"You can sit you know...I swear, perfect gentleman." He put his hands up in front of him in a sign of calm and promise. "Will keep my hands to myself...until you inevitably ask." Blaine smiled slowly and put his hands down, motioning to the bed.

**RACHEL BERRY:  
**Rachel could see the evidence of Luci scattered everywhere, even as he tried to pick some of it up and move it away from her. For a moment, Rachel felt like she was stepping in on boundaries that she really shouldn't; Quinn was scary, but wouldn't resort to physical throws and she wasn't exactly sure she could say the same about Luci if the girl decided she was a large enough threat to her relationship with Blaine.

But she moved towards the bed anyways, smoothing down the back of her dress before she sat, crossing her legs demurely and examining the cloud mural that was surely the work of his best friend. "You have a nice room," she said politely, ignoring his comment completely before she turned to smile at him. "Definitely not the terrifying one bedroom apartment everyone assumes you hide yourself away in," she teased, and while he rolled his eyes she could see the slight hint of an almost-smile at the turn of his lips.

"So," she started, pursing her lips for a moment; she wasn't exactly sure of what she was stepping into, but she needed to know before his mom caught her off guard. She was never unprepared for anything, and a dinner with Blaine was hardly going to be her exception. "Not that you owe me any sort of explanations, but...is there anything I should know? About your mom, or your family?"

She would have offered her own story if she thought he didn't already know it; anyone who didn't know her personally referred to her as 'the girl with two gay dads' as if that singled her out. And she supposed in Lima, Ohio, it did - but it was hardly what she wanted to be known for.

"I saw pictures of you in the hallway," she grinned, unable to help herself, "you were a cute little kid. Was that your older brother with you in them?"

She could sense, more than see, that she was treading dangerous ground, but the only way they'd ever be able to be _anything_ would be if he opened up to her, at least a little bit, showed her _something _behind the mask of innuendos and leather jackets.

**BLAINE ANDERSON:**  
This was _exactly _why he didn't let anyone in because the first thing people wanted to know was how he came to be here in Ohio and what was up with his family. He hated it. He hated the way people looked at him because of it. Luci was different, she had found out on accident one day-he had been beating the shit out of a punching back one day after school and she had come across him on the way to a painting studio located at the back of the school. She was the only one who hadn't listened to him when he told her to 'fuck off and mind your own business'. She told him he had a lot of anger in him...and he hadn't disagreed.

An hour after school had turned into three days after school hanging out, then meeting eachother in the mornings on the hood of Blaine's car and then during the weekend when neither of them had shit to do-she had even been the first one to kiss him, Blaine not even making it to lewd suggestions of third base before her lips landed on his in the front seat of her car.

_"I know you've been thinking about that all week," She had told him, smirking. "So I figured we'd get that out of the way and be friends."_

They had ended up in the backseat of his car, Luci humming around his cock. And she had been right though, they had gotten that out of the way...and they were still friends, he went as far to call her his _best _friend. He had never intended on staying friends with her after that but...something about her made it impossibly hard to let her go. He felt a pang of something in his chest, guilt maybe, as he thought about earlier in the day at her house-but dismissed it instantly, focusing his thoughts back on the ever flowing stream of questions that always seemed to be on hyperdrive in terms of Rachel.

He shifted awkwardly, deciding to join her on his bed after a moment's thought. He sat down against the wall that was pressed to the bed's left side and crossed his legs, watching her turn her body so that she was angled to face him.

Blaine had to bite his tongue and bite it hard to not be an asshole with this; he wanted to tell her that really it was none of her damn business and just because he was taking her out on this circus of a date and that they had ended up at his house didn't mean he owed her anything, especially a conversation about why his family was so fucked up. If he was going to win this bet, Rachel needed more to go on than the fact that he thought she was hot and the acknowledgment that there was sexual attraction on her part. She needed there to be something between them, something that connected them, made everything deeper and well rounded-she needed this, whatever it was, to _mean _something. Which meant he'd actually have to talk to her like he gave a shit about what she thought about him.

He cleared his throat, fingering some curls around his forehead for a moment before he spoke. "You're right, I don't really owe you anything." He hesitated and began again, pushing on his walls to force them down for the moment. It was a hard thing to do, he had worked so hard to stack them up, make them as strong and impermeable for his own good. He sighed.

"My aunt lives here, in Lima. My mom and I moved here after my dad cheated on her and divorced her." Blaine played with the end of the his sweater. He felt like this was almost wrong in a way, the only person who knew everything about his family was Luci. "Anyways we moved here, my brother, the tall guy in the picture, Cooper, stayed with my dad in LA. She thought being closer to family would help but as you can so obviously see," He winced as he heard his mom belt out a note that sounded like a cat being pushed into a meat grinder. "she's a bit fucked up."

Blaine ran his hand through his curls again, scrubbing at his scalp. "She's the reason I put up with the invalid teachers at school and go to class," He smiled slowly at her. "Well, most of them." He smirked.

**RACHEL BERRY:**  
Rachel hummed quietly, listening to him talk. And she knew he was fighting against his instincts, that he didn't want to tell her anything. She was more surprised that he had. But she also knew better than to press for more and be grateful for what she got, so instead of asking more about his family she moved closer to him, sitting against the wall next to him, close enough that their shoulders touched and hoping that maybe he found some sort of balance in the simple act of another person touching him even in the slightest way like she did.

"Your mom doesn't seem messed up," Rachel assured him, though his returning grunt of disbelief told her that he thought she was lying. "Though I obviously have very little to go on." It was obvious that he cared about his mom, but she was almost afraid to voice how sweet she thought it was. As tough as he tried to be, he was a sweetheart deep down, which was why Rachel was comfortable trusting him with her. With her heart.

"Thank you," she said quietly, finding his hand and even as he sighed, his fingers linked with hers and she let her head fall to his shoulder, finding simplicity in the moment. "I know you don't want to talk about things like that, but - I appreciate that you did."

They didn't have any chance to delve deeper into his hidden psyche even if she thought he'd allow it before his mom was calling for them, her voice loud and melodic and Rachel wanted to ask if she sang too, if that's where the talent she _knew _lay hidden beneath the surface in him had come from. Instead she let him pull her off the bed, his shoulders tense even as she kept her own nerves at bay.

_It's just dinner_, she thought to herself, shaking free the slight terror that seemed to settle in on herself; _nothing more and nothing less_.

As long as she could remember that, she'd make it through unscathed.

**BLAINE ANDERSON:  
**Blaine shook his head, glancing down as Rachel moved closer and laced their fingers, her head falling to his shoulder. He tensed for a brief second before relaxing, the scent of her vanilla soaked shampoo seeping into the niches of fabric of his sweater and wafting to his nose. He hadn't wanted her to comment on his mom but he supposed he appreciated her attempt at a sentiment and ran his thumb over her own; he remembered the first time Luci had met his mom and it was ironic to him that the two girls didn't get along seeing as how the curly redhead had said the same thing about her. It was easy to say when they didn't live with her or knew her before, back in LA; as nice and cheery as she was she was anything but those things. She wasn't the same person, a mother sure, but not his mom.

He wasn't quite sure why she was thanking him, he hadn't told her on his own accord...but it wasn't like he was about to tell _her _that.

"You're welcome," He said anyways, saved ironically by the call of his mother that dinner was ready. Blaine stood and helped her off the bed, shutting his light off as they went back downstairs to where his mother was sashaying her hips to _Johnny B. Goode _when they walked in.

He felt a hint of a smile touch his lips as he shook his head, crossing his arms over his chest as he walked her. He made a point to clap when the song finished and his mom beamed, curtsying her apron to them when she was done.

Blaine leaned down and gently nudged Rachel's shoulder, smiling at her. "Dinner and a _show_, didn't get that with Finn Hudson, did you?" He teased, smirking as he broke away to pile up casserole onto a few plates.

He motioned for her to follow him into the dining room where they rarely ate dinner but he figured since there were the three of them the coffee table in the living room just wouldn't cut it. The eating of dinner was silent for the first twenty minutes, the clanking of forks and knives and cups against the wooden table filling up the quiet space before his mom spoke up.

"So Rachel, dear, Blaine's told me a little bit about you...uhm, I hear you volunteer at school by helping out those less fortunate. Tone deaf, I believe Blaine said?"

He snorted before taking a scoopful of broccoli and pepper. "You could say that." Blaine glanced over and smirked at the glare Rachel was giving him when she realized he had been describing the glee club. "What, they are!"

Blaine rolled his eyes and looked back at his mother. "I meant she's in a singing club mom at our school but...I mean the rest of them _are _tone deaf compared to Rachel."

Mrs. Anderson smiled and shook her head at her son. "So singing is what you would like to pursue as a career?"

He glanced at her to hear her reaction and for some reason, she looked nervous. He didn't know whether it was because of him, this dinner or perhaps his mother. Or maybe there was something about that question, her future, that wasn't planned yet-the only damn thing she wasn't prepared for. Whatever the reason, his hand reached across the gap between them under the table and settled on her right knee. He squeezed gently and rubbed at the skin, connecting eyes with her that told her it was alright before pulling back.

**RACHEL BERRY:  
**Most of her fear disappeared as they moved into the dining room, eating quietly while Rachel took in her surroundings once more. She gathered that they didn't often eat in there, and she was willing to bet that Luci had never been offered dinner in all her time there, and the vindictive part of her that wanted to win Blaine for herself was pleased, her smile returning until Blaine was mocking her glee club once more.

She wanted to take pride in the fact that he seemed to think that much of her singing but for some reason she tensed when his mother asked about her career, and she wasn't sure what it was. She could go on and on to anyone who would listen about Broadway that yes, it was her ultimate desire, but -

She tried to shake it off, and it was easier once Blaine's hand found her skin, the motion almost tender and she breathed a little more when he smiled at her.

"Yes," she answered finally, nodding politely as she folded her napkin over her cleared plate. "That's the plan, at least. New York for college and eventually Broadway, though I wouldn't be opposed to a singing contract later on in life; much like Barbra herself, I plan to do it all."

Even Blaine chuckled a little at that, taking Rachel by surprise - he never seemed to really care about what she was saying unless it was to argue with her, though she knew he at least listened when she talked. But it made her own smile feel more natural, her body feeling more comfortable and less tense as she helped to clear the table, taking Blaine's plate for him as they moved to clean up.

"You have a lovely voice yourself, Mrs. Anderson," Rachel complemented, "I can see now where Blaine received his talent from."

His mom let out a small laugh at that, shaking her head and admonishing the statement as if it was false and Rachel let herself envision things like this happening more and more often; his mother inviting her to stay for dinner before she could slip away and spend time with Blaine on his own; no school or Luci or anyone to interrupt them. She could have him meet her fathers, though they'd surely embarrass her with tales from her own childhood that she liked to keep quiet, and maybe, just maybe -

Maybe they could work. A little unconventionally, of course; she hardly expected Blaine to change into one of the football players with their ideas of normal dating, but they could be good to one another. Happy with one another.

She was almost one hundred percent positive that they could do this, if he wanted it as much as she was starting to realize she did.

**BLAINE ANDERSON:**  
Blaine shook his head as Rachel started to help clean up the dishes on the table, transporting them into the kitchen to be washed, dried and put away.

"Please don't encourage her." He teased, stacking cups before disappearing into the kitchen.

He could hear his mother laugh and say something about the little performances Cooper and him used to put on for the whole entire neighborhood when they were little. He thought back to the banter at dinner a few minutes before and remembers Rachel commenting on his talent. He couldn't honestly believe that someone as talented as her (no he'd never tell her that out loud, like she _needed _her ego to be stroked, honestly) would think he was just as good. He never practiced, not unless Cooper visited and the older Anderson made him, but it wasn't like he was ever going to nourish that talent and take it somewhere. He had no interest, he wasn't going to use the fact that he could sing to get out of this redneck town. He wasn't good enough, to start, no matter what Rachel said.

Blaine ran a hand through his curls and headed back to the dining room, collecting the last of the silverware. Even Luci hadn't heard him sing before, she had asked him to but he hadn't been interested in exposing himself even though she loved the idea of showing him her art. He brushed his hands off his jeans and helped his mother load the dishwasher before punching in the code to let a cycle run.

"We're going out somewhere," He told his mom. "But I'll be home...you know, late." After he dropped Rachel off by whatever curfew time she had he probably should drop by Luci's to apologize before she made a thing out of it.

"Alright, well...please be careful." Mrs. Anderson smiled softly at Rachel. "Please do visit again, we could use a new face around here."

Blaine knew that was an inference to Luci and while his mother liked her, she didn't approve that they spent most of their time together drinking, smoking or fooling around. He could already see that she liked Rachel more because she thought she was 'good for him'. Whatever problem his mother had with Luci he really wasn't going to let that cloud his judgment; Rachel was just a bet, a tangle in his sheets, a long legged tease that was going to scratch a certain kind of itch. Nothing more, nothing less.

He rolled his eyes at his mother's jab and hooked his hand around Rachel's elbow, yanking her towards the front door. He took her sweater off the coat rack and handed it to her before heading outside to start the car.

ooo  
Mrs. Anderson hovered by the front door and watched Rachel slide her sweater on.

"He's a good boy," She told Rachel, worrying her lower lip as she heard the car start. "I know he seems...rather brash but he's got a good heart." She nodded and smiled at her, curling a stray piece around her ear. "His father..." She hummed softly and then backtracked, deciding not to go there. "Have a nice time and I meant what I said, I really would love to see you again...maybe meet your fathers?" She smiled and nodded her head towards the car after Blaine honked the horn.

ooo

Blaine waited patiently for Rachel to walk down from the house and get into the car, he slowly pulled out of the driveway and licked his lips. He wanted to flick the radio on or something because the silence between them was starting to pull at his nerve endings-he could feel Rachel's eyes on him as he drove, a million questions probably building up in her throat, itching to get out all at once.

He really wasn't in the mood for twenty questions about his life or what she had just experienced.

"Before you ask where we're going, I'm not telling you." He smiled softly. "It's a surprise."

He continued down the road and turned right, hoping she wouldn't ask anymore about where they were headed and let herself be surprised for once.


	6. Fire and Water

**Title**: Fire and Water 6/? (Part of: _**Cigarette burned Stars**_ verse)

**Pairing**: blainchel

**Summary**: Blaine doesn't exactly go on dates...so naturally when he takes Rachel out it's definitely something she'd never expect.

**Authors**: civillove (Blaine) & berrywarbler (Rachel)

**Rating**: PG-13

**Author's note**: Like we have to explain who is who, but just in case :P Also blainchel written by blainchel means that it's the best blainchel xoxo  
**Author's note 2: **This reads in RP format because…well it's basically an RP that we're posting as fic. _You're welcome_.

**RACHEL BERRY:**

Rachel was surprised when his mother stopped her, speaking quickly and quietly as if Blaine would interrupt them and pull Rachel off while dissuading her from believing a word the woman said. But it wasn't anything Rachel hadn't gathered on her own, and she nodded before saying a quick 'Thank you for dinner!' with a wave before moving to rejoin Blaine in the car.

He was almost fidgety, and Rachel knew it was better to keep her mouth shut than to pry; she'd gotten far more out of him over the course of the night than she had expected, and she suspected more than he would have liked her to be privy too. In the little time she'd known him, she knew he didn't open up to anyone - Luci, at most, but certainly not anyone else. Rachel was almost proud of the fact that she was worming her way into his life, unintentional or not.

She giggled a little when he said their next stop was a surprise, biting down on her lip as a blush crawled over her skin - it hadn't been an intentional thing,but she was starting to feel the excitement and nerves coil once more, now that they were alone in his dark car. And she wanted to talk, to ask him more about Cooper and the performances his mom had told her about, to even ask about Luci and what it was they did when they were together, or just to pick apart his brain, find out what made him work and what he strove for - if anything. Why he didn't utilize the talent he had, why he was so quick to ignore any decency that he portrayed so easily.

But he'd only get annoyed and snap at her, so she rested her forehead against the glass of the window instead, her eyebrows furrowing in consternation as she realized where they were headed a moment or two before they arrived.

"Did you forget something?" she asked as they pulled up to the school, Blaine parking the car with a wicked grin on his face that she had to admit gave her butterflies, her apprehension kept at bay as he shook his head 'no' and answered her with the same, confusion overtaking her even as she stepped out of the car to follow.

"I don't understand..." she said quietly, instinctively keeping her voice down even as her fingers wrapped around his wrist, staying close to him in the dim lighting from the parking lot as they started to cross it. "Why are you taking me to the school, Blaine? I didn't expect a conventional date, or anything, but this...seems a little weird, even for you."

**BLAINE ANDERSON:  
**Blaine pulled his car into park and quickly stuck the keys in his pocket as he got out of the car, grinning at her and shutting the door-successfully cutting her off her rambling in mid question. He briefly wondered if she'd be interested in a damn ball gag of some kind because he was not putting up with this shit during sex. The only thing he wanted to hear out of her were various moans and a slew of emphasis for his name...he had a feeling he wasn't going to be that lucky in terms of that ambition. He moved from the car rather quickly so that she'd have no choice but to keep in pace with him unless she wanted to be left in the darkness of the parking lot by herself. He could hear the twenty minute dissertation now about how no one was going to leave Rachel Barbra Berry a car in the middle of the night in the school parking lot.

He rolled his eyes as she gripped harshly onto his wrist; though he wasn't sure if that was intended to pull him back or yank him to her strut to ask him (berate him) about sneaking onto school grounds and what the hell they were doing there.

He pointedly ignored her and rounded the first building to head towards the football field and the locker room, tugging her along to emphasize that they had to hurry and be discrete. He bit his lip as he got to the exit door of the locker room outside the football field, there was a lone yellow light that shone down above them, highlighting the whizzing patterns of falling snow. Rachel was shivering behind him as she waited (so not patiently) to see what he was doing. Blaine pulled out a set of five keys from his back pocket and flipped through them for the right one before sticking it in the lock. He looked back and smirked at Rachel as she asked him what the hell he was doing.

"Baking a cake." He grinned, yanking the door open seamlessly and then rolled his eyes at her unsatisfied huff. "Principal Figgins doesn't know his ass from his elbow, he's incredibly unorganized. I snagged the keys off his desk one day when he was berating a dumbass football player, made copies of them and then returned them the next day." He shuffled her inside the warm locker room which smelled of rubber, old clothes and musk.

"The dolt hadn't even realized I had swapped them for a day."

Blaine rubbed his hands together and stuck the keys back into his back pocket and ran a hand through his curls that were slightly damp from the falling flakes outside. He glanced around the locker room to make sure they were alone before trying to get Rachel to continue to their destination, grabbing a hold of her wrist like she had outside.

When Rachel asked him why in the world he had needed to steal the keys just so he could make copies he had shrugged his shoulder and grinned at her, "Because I wanted to see if I could." It was as simple as that.

He reached the beginning of the locker room and the entrance that led out into the hallway. They needed to cross the hallway to get in another direction but there were monitoring janitors that were doing their nightly scheduled cleaning...and they'd have to move fast to get where he wanted them to go without being caught.

Alright...5, 4, 3, 2...He started inching forward and opening the door, checking for janitors...

When Rachel yanked him by his sweater back inside and he grunted, swatting her hand and glaring at her.

"What the fuck was that for? We need to move." She just gave him a look that said 'no way' with her typical Rachel Berry 'I have a pristine record and am better than you in several ways' attitude with her arms crossed over her chest. He tried not to focus on how the position kind of made her boobs look like there was something there to actually grab hold of.

He sighed. "Come on where's your sense of adventure?" He asked. "Take that stick out of your ass for once." It was a joke but she was not buying it. She just looked more pissed off.

Blaine smiled slowly. "I promise I won't let a scary janitor attack you with a mop." He almost used 'Luci would do it' but that probably wouldn't have encouraged the kind of reaction that he wanted. "Come on," He tried again and then-

"I promise I won't let anything happen to you." He said instead, very serious and utterly concerned with a soft smile as he stuck his hand out for her to take.

And that, he'd realize, would make all the difference.

**RACHEL BERRY:**  
Her hesitancy only grew as he led her inside, and while she wanted to trust him, her every instinct was screaming at her to run. She didn't walk onto school grounds after hours, not even for the use of the auditorium or the choir room for it's prefered acoustics over her own basement; sneaking in for whatever Blaine had planned was surely far less reasonable.

She tried to stop him and get some answers to the questions she had, but he refused to pause as they slunk through hallways she'd only previously seen in the day time. It was nerve wracking and peculiar to see the school shrouded in darkness, a hidden reality she was sure she could have lived without.

He finally listened to her request when she pulled at his sweater, refusing to move until he coughed up some answers. She was not going to get caught and suspended for some mischievous plan he wouldn't even tell her about - although her innocence in not knowing may end up working in her favor, lest they get caught.

"Tell me -" she started when his hand wrapped around hers, startling her with sincerity in his eyes that she rarely saw, her own posture and face softening at the act. She wouldn't have been out with him if she didn't trust him, she remembered, and as he pulled her forward and down the hall as quickly as they could move while still being nearly silent, she knew she'd just have to keep that in mind.

At least, that was until they turned a corner and she realized exactly where in the school they had ended up; the lights were dark overhead but the pool came equipped with it's own underneath the clear water and Rachel pulled back, shaking her head even as Blaine grinned at her.

"Are you _actually _insane?" she hissed, following him into the room that housed the pool regardless. "You want to go swimming, at night, where we could get caught? It's not even warm outside - you still have snow in your hair to prove that," she ranted, crossing her arms over her chest and shaking her head again, even as he moved closer to stand behind her.

She tensed automatically until his hands rested gently on her hips - not trying for anything, she noticed after a moment, though his breath was tickling against the nape of her neck as he asked her about her sense of adventure once more.

"I don't have one," she retorted, keeping her face impassive. "I'm not getting in that water, I don't even have a bathing suit with me and my gym locker is empty."

He tried to argue with her that she didn't need one, but his face was still too close to her skin, breath trailing down her neck and she was trying so hard to focus on his words and yet somehow still almost missed them. It wasn't until his fingers started bunching fabric around her hips that she realized the connotations of his words and quickly spun away from him, shaking her head.

"No, absolutely not, I am not going _skinny dipping _in the school pool in the middle of the night!"

**BLAINE ANDERSON:  
**He pulled the pool door closed behind them, heavy metal sliding into place right after he checked and looked back into the hallway to make sure no one had seen them walk in. Satisfied that they were still alone and safe from being caught, he turned his attention to the pool, which was glowly brightly with its aquamarine color, shining in waves on the walls and bleachers to the right of the deck from the large circled lights spaced out inside the pool along the sides. He ran his hand through his curls as he half listened to her about how it was too cold to swim and something about remnants of snow in his hair but most of his attention was the calm surroundings of the pool, the gentle lapping of the water licking the sides deck and the soft echos of (unfortunately) Rachel's voice vibrating back to him as it bounced off the high ceilings.

He shifted on his feet before carefully walking on the pool deck in case it was still wet and started taking his sweater off, the muggy heat rolling off the water starting to make sweat bead along the collar of his shirt. He winced when Rachel's voice took a high pitched turn, the vibrating sound shaking his eardrums and actually hurting him like a son of a bitch. He whirled around and gripped her arms, wanting to put his hand over her mouth because _Jesus Christ _did she not understand the 'we have to be quiet or we're going to get caught part'? He squeezed her arms as she hissed out something about not having a bathing suit.

He shrugged his shoulders, inferring down to his attire because...did it look like he had any intention of using a bathing suit. The dawning on her face was priceless and he found all he could do was slowly smirk as she poked him in his chest at the accusation of skinny dipping. He hummed, his hands resting on her hips to squeeze gently before he let go.

His eyebrows arched in an act of mock surprise. "Oh skinny dipping, huh? I hadn't even _thought _of that..." Blaine slowly smiled. "But since you suggested it."

Rachel adamantly shook her head, glaring at him with a gaze that he could only describe as something Satan himself would be afraid of and declared she was _not _skinny dipping with him.

Well, he couldn't have that.

Blaine sighed dramatically. "Well, I mean...I guess there's no way I could...make you..." He trailed off, glancing down as his hands innocently settled on her hips again.

She had about a half a second before she realized what he was doing...and he ever so gently pushed her into the pool.

**RACHEL BERRY:**  
There was no time to prepare before she was thrown into the pool; she was sputtering and glaring when she surfaced once more, Blaine continuing to lose layers of his own clothes as he laughed at her, her feet finding the bottom of the relatively shallow depth as she glared at him.

She had never recalled a time she had been so angry, and seeing miles of skin she'd never been privy to on Blaine's body as he stripped down to his boxer briefs before sliding in the pool to join her wasn't enough of a distraction.

"You," she seethed, starting to move towards the pools edge, her dress weighing her down and making it harder to move, "are _incredible_," she hissed, his smirk wide and she shook her head, her hair plastered to her skin from the water as she reached out a hand to slap him, his own hand catching her wrist before she could make contact with him and he pulled her over, her weight still lighter even with her clothes weighing her down in the pool.

"I didn't mean it as a compliment, Blaine," she snapped, even as he tugged on the fabric, promising that she'd be so much more comfortable with it off. Logically, she knew she would be - the dress was freezing, clinging to her skin tight enough that it was almost constricting and she was sure she'd wind up with pneumonia if she didn't take it off soon. But she'd never been that exposed before with anyone, and while she trusted Blaine -

That was all that mattered, she supposed, was that she did. He might have been a jackass and too far out of her spectrum of normality about so many things, but he would never push if she said 'stop'.

"Fine," she snapped, taking a deep breath and closing her eyes as if if she didn't see it happening, she could pretend it wasn't. But her fingers curled around the hem of her dress, pulling it up and peeling it off of her skin before sending it to land on the pool deck, her hands falling to her hips in a portrayal of defiance when all she really felt was embarrassment and self consciousness.

**BLAINE ANDERSON:  
**Blaine couldn't help the sly smile that covered his face when Rachel resurfaced from the pool, hair plastered on her forehead, the pretty curls long gone and soaked. He bit his lip and slid his shirt up and off, depositing it where he had tossed his sweater, far enough away that if Rachel decided to be a little bit maniacal that she wouldn't be able to get them wet. He grinned as she called him incredible.

"I'm so _flattered _you think so." He snorted, knowing that was the farthest from a compliment he was going to receive from her. He undid his jeans, humming as he did so as he pulled them down. He kicked off his shoes, peeled off his socks and slid himself into the pool.

Blaine felt goosebumps cover his arms and legs, his boxer briefs sticking easily to his skin, outlining every curve. He swam over to her before she could crawl out from the edge of the pool.

"Oh lighten up, it's water Berry, not acid." He easily caught her wrist when she tried to smack him, smiling a little as his thumb ran over her quickening pulse in her wrist. He let out a slow breath through his nose and leaned close, his breath brushing enticingly over her face. "You're not going to melt, relax. Take your clothes off," He smirked. "Stay for a while." He winked.

Blaine turned her around as she snapped out a fine, he shook his head and ran his hand through his curls, dampening them. "You'll feel a lot better with this off, it's weighing you down like an anvil. Your panties and bra, however, can come off too it's all up to you." He grinned, knowing he was pushing his luck.

He slowly pulled down the zipper on her dress, helping her out of it before throwing it onto the pool deck, the fabric making a sickening _thwap_ noise, deafening in the quietness of the room around them. Blaine could feel her trembling as his hands settled on her shoulders, trailing down her arms, his thumbs brushing along her back. He licked his lips as his eyes flickered along her bra, navy blue lace bra that matched the color of her sopping dress. He couldn't tell whether she was shaking because she was cold or because his hands were on her.

Blaine moved in the water to face her, smirking at her eyes slightly closed. "I'm done removing your clothes, you don't have to keep your eyes shut. Unless...you want me to remove something else." He snorted as she tried to smack him again, her eyes alight in defiance. He easily sidestepped her hand. He'd been in fights before and to say the least, he'd been up against worst than Rachel Berry. Even though she was fucking scary when angry. "So violent, always trying to hit me."

He tilted his head at her and leaned back into the water, going under so his hair got wet. He shook his hair out, curls dripping water droplets onto his neck and shoulders.

"You know, if you want to learn how to hit, I can teach you. I box, if you didn't know."

He looked up at her, she was shivering on the spot. He sighed, moving in the water to wrap his arms around her. She started squirming and he tightened his hold.

"Relax," He whispered, squeezing her until she stopped. He licked his lips. "Move around a little, you're going to freeze to death. Come on," He pulled on her hand now, trying to take her to the deep end of the pool. "Let's go deeper, that way the water will cover you. It's heated so." He winked but she looked alarmed. "What's the matter."

**RACHEL BERRY: **

Rachel was sorely tempted by his offer of learning how to box, if only so she could learn how to properly hit him. It was infuriating how quickly he could grate on her nerves, but she was too cold to argue against him, wrapping her arms around herself and despite her squirming,his embrace brought heat and warmth to her, the goosebumps crawling over her skin diminishing slightly.

But she froze - unintentionally - when he tried to move her deeper to where she couldn't stand on her feet. It was horrifyingly embarrassing, something she'd kept quiet enough over the years but - she couldn't swim, and learning how to do so in the middle of the night with Blaine didn't seem like the safest option either.

"Nothing," she said but the word slipped out quickly - too quickly for Blaine to believe her, at least, and she bit down on her lip as he tried to pull her once more. "I can't," she said, shaking her head and retracting her hand from his, wrapping them around herself once more as he sighed in exasperation. "No, Blaine - I _can't_," she admitted, hoping that he tone would be enough for him to realize what she was saying.

His eyebrow cocked in amusement, the words seeming to settle in finally, and she looked anywhere but at him as embarrassment and shame washed over her. "I never had time when I was younger," she explained defensively, "okay? I was busy at dance or with singing lessons. My fathers prepared me for theater, not athletics, so I just never got around to learning how. It's never been a huge ordeal - it's not like anyone wanted to invite _Rachel Berry _to their pool party over the summer."

She sunk underneath the water for a moment, hiding her face that felt like it was burning from the admission, avoiding whatever mocking statement that he had planned up his sleeve for as long as she could until she couldn't breathe, resurfacing with a gasping breath as she wrung out her hair, still making sure to avoid his gaze as much as possible.

"_You _can go to the deep end," she said after a moment, "I'm perfectly content right here."

**BLAINE ANDERSON: **

When Rachel resisted the tug of his hand one final time, he sighed and stopped, his feet straddling the bright blue line that was painted on the floor of the pool separating the deep and shallow ends. He ran his hands through his curls, trying to decide whether dragging her in was a good idea...pushing her into the water had seemed like a stellar plan at the time, until he had joined her in the pool at least. He nodded softly, listening to her story, his thumb continuously tracing the veins of her wrist.

"You _can_." Blaine insisted, cocking his head at her. When she wouldn't budge he bit his lower lip and turned to face her, his other hand resting on her hip. "When I was little, my aunt had this pool. We would go over there every Sunday during the summertime." His fingers curled around her waist, she didn't seem to notice. "And I couldn't swim but..." He smiled. "Cooper insisted on teaching me. One of those things he insisted I had to learn to grow into the strapping man I am today," He snorted and tugged her a little closer, slowly, inching her along-he was glad she didn't seem to realize what he was doing.

She smiled instead and listened to him talk, just like he assumed she'd be entrapped by him talking and the laugh that bubbled out of his throat. This girl was sometimes too predictable for her own good.

"But my dad..." He shook his head. "I guess he wasn't thrilled it was taking me so long just to tread goddamn water and one day, he just pushed me in."

Blaine slowly pulled Rachel into the deep end of the pool.

"Sometimes our parents can't really prepare us for some of the things we encounter...that's why you have to be willing to try new things. Or you miss out on everything you might not have prerequisites for." He winked, smiling slowly as he looked around the pool.

It was then Rachel seemed to notice that he had dragged her out into the deep end of the pool without really realizing it and Blaine squeezed her waist as she started to freak out. "Relax, I've got you, just kick your legs, kind of like riding a bike." He waited a few moments for her to relax and do as he said and then smiled slowly as she gently bobbed up and down-successfully treading water, his hands readily on either side of her in case she faltered.

"See?" He asked, grinning. "Told you you could do it."

Blaine's eyes flickered over Rachel's, the bright stripes of brown that reminded him of cinnamon and cappuccinos reflecting against the overhead lights of the pool. He leaned his head closer, his nose grazing hers. He wanted to kiss her, again, different like that night at the party. This was supposed to be more intimate, more meaningful or some shit, distict in a way that she would remember and perhaps give him more chances than he deserved on the off chance that his personality got the better of him. He licked his lips, noticing how her eyes shifted down to watch the movement.

"I'm going to kiss you," He said softly, his breath bumping off her nose. "Don't hit me." He smirked, waiting a fraction of a moment for her to pull away before pressing his lips to hers.

**RACHEL BERRY:**  
There was something about his voice that kept her hooked, and it wasn't just the small details of a story she had the suspicion he hadn't shared with anyone else - though that was certainly appealing. It was low, soothing, and she found herself listening intently and not even noticing as he dragged her deeper into the pool until she was already there.

Panic set in before she could stop it, and she would have yelled at him if her heart didn't feel like it was lodged in her throat and beating nine times faster than normal, but it was his voice again that talked her down, telling her what to do and calming her until she was treading the water on her own, his hands no longer on her waist to keep her afloat.

A quiet laugh escaped her, pride brimming over the edge but when she looked up he was right there, his own small smirk evident as he moved closer. His fingers brushed back a stray hair stuck to her cheek, his eyes focusing on her lips and she felt her own drawn to his, his tongue brushing along his bottom lip quickly before he whispered that he was going to kiss her.

It wasn't like it had been the past two times, made up of desperation and want that Rachel kept locked up as tightly as she could, exploding out of her at the most inopportune moments and causing them both to sink with her self control. It was - different, to say the least, gentle and soft and she forgot to kick her legs underneath of her for a minute, almost sinking until he grabbed her and made sure she didn't drown, laughing quietly as she flushed pink.

"I kind of ruined that," she murmured quietly, but he didn't seem to mind as he kissed her again, helping swim her backwards until she could rest against the wall of the pool, his body pressed against hers and keeping her in place while her fingers dragged through his wet curls, keeping him as close to her as possible.

It was almost like in all those movies she spent endless nights watching; of teeth gently catching at lips and tongues slowly exploring mouths, of quiet gasps and caught breath and she was almost surprised at how well he kept himself in check - his hands didn't move further than where he held onto her hips, his mouth hardly left her own, and it was surprisingly -

Perfect.

Which was a dangerous thought to entertain when it came to him, but maybe if she let her guard down, he would too and they could figure out whatever it was they were together instead of tearing one another apart.

**BLAINE ANDERSON:  
**He felt the shift in the water before she did, his hands instantly grabbing at her sides to steady her so she didn't sink below the water. He smirked when their lips pulled apart, a small squeak sounding from Rachel's mouth as she lost her control.

"I got you." He murmured against her lips.

His nose bumped hers as he swiftly moved them through the pool so that they were on even ground again, parts where they could stand even though he much preferred the deep end. Half of their bodies weren't covered in the shallow as he pressed her back against the pool wall and he felt goosebumps pin pricking his skin before he shivered.

Blaine hummed softly, his thumbs traveling over her hipbones like lines on a map, uncharted territory red flagging in his mind. "You didn't ruin a thing." He assured her, kissing her again before her mind caught up with her better judgement. His tongue teased her lower lip before he pulled it back into his mouth, wanting to keep this kiss something sweet and well desired...and while his whole being was pushing for more he knew to keep himself at bay.

The last thing he wanted was for this to be something she ended up regretting.

He smiled as he pulled back, kissing her nose even though she scrunched it afterwards. His hand cupped her face, thumb tracing her cheekbone, the slightest shade of painted pink, the color too vibrant and pretty to be reproduced with makeup.

Blaine opened his mouth to say something else but he heard a noise in the far distance beyond the pool deck door...in the hallway, a janitor maybe making his rounds with a garbage can before going home...or one of those school police officers that doubled as mall cops on the weekend.

"Shit." He muttered, seeing a flashlight reflect through the window, maybe from down the hall-but it was most definitely a school monitor cop, what the fuck would a janitor need with a flashlight. "Come on, we gotta go."

He scrambled out of the pool, pausing to turn around and grab onto her hands to yank her up and out of the water. He licked his lips, skidding as he ran across the pool deck to pick up their clothes. He barely had time to dry himself to put his clothes back on, watching Rachel shiver madly as she put her dress on. He waited just until she put her shoes on to pull on her hand to run towards the back door of the pool that led into another opposite hallway.

Blaine pushed open the door, trying to quietly tug Rachel along as fast as he could. He stopped short when his ears picked up another sense of movement down the hall, blocking their only way out unless he wanted to take her in the direction of the other hallway, where the fucking mall cop was. He sighed heavily and glanced around the space-a classroom would be far too open to hide in...his eyes clicked onto a storage closet, one for office and classroom supplies, something a janitor wouldn't need to open up while cleaning.

Thankfully the door was open when he tried and he brought them inside, quietly closing the door behind them. He could hear Rachel's frantic breathing in the pitch darkness, could feel her shaking from yanking her out of the pool and the cool air around them. He sighed softly, pressing her into the door, trying to listen as footsteps passed.

"Shh," He said softly, moving to wrap his sweater around her shoulders. He rubbed her arms, his lips resting on her cold forehead a moment before dipping his head down and capturing her lips, officially distracting her in the best way he knew how.

**RACHEL BERRY:**  
Her heart was beating out of her chest at the prospect of being caught; images of her dads frowning at her in disappointment mixed with Figgin's asking her where she had gone wrong flashing in her mind as he tossed her her dress, still fairly wet from where it had landed on the pool deck and only making her colder as he pulled her away. She tried to keep her shivering to a minimum, moving as quietly as possible and following his lead, trusting that he could get her out of this situation.

Her teeth were practically clattering together as he pulled them into a storage closet, and even him standing close to her wasn't warming her up - but his sweater helped, as he wrapped it around her, and even though they were supposed to be listening for footsteps to let them know if they were in the clear or if they were caught, she didn't stop him from kissing her again.

It seemed to warm her up, at any rate, distracted her from the terror of being thrown out of school, though the thought was ever present in the back of her mind. And she knew, really, that he was distracting her, keeping her calm so she didn't panic and give them away, but she could think of worse distractions than his hands cupping her cheeks and his tongue gliding across her own.

They pulled apart what felt like too quickly; Blaine pressing his head against the door before assuring her that they were clear for now, his hand still locked around her own as he pulled her silently through the hallways. There was no questions from her on how he knew, but she somehow could thrive on the knowledge that he did, on some level, care about her even if he didn't want to acknowledge it.

Neither of them said a word until they were in his car, the heat on full blast in a vain attempt to warm up, and she burst out into giggles as she realized what had just happened.

No one would believe that she had taken part in breaking into school late at night and stripped down to her undergarments to swim; Blaine was taking her so far out of her bubble she could hardly see it from where she sat with him and the worst part of all -

She didn't think she cared anymore.

**BLAINE ANDERSON:  
**Blaine thought he'd have to put money on Rachel being pissed off by the time they got to the car. For one he had yanked her out of the pool and into the hallway, the storage closet next, that he was sure he had nearly pulled her arm out of her socket. Secondly, she was shivering to the point of hypothermia, even with his sweater wrapped around her tiny body, the mad dash to the car enough to cause icicles to spread on their wet skin, frost curling around the strands of their hair. He could barely feel his fingers or nose by the time they got into the car, putting the heat on full blast like that could help. Thirdly, and most important, he had almost gotten her caught by the school mall cops and janitors for being on school grounds after hours...swimming in a pool as his idea of a stellar date.

His eyebrows rose when she started laughing, full body giggles shaking her form harder than the shivers from the cold.

"Are you...okay?" He asked a moment later, her laughs still filling up the car as fast as the heat was. "Oh, God, I broke you didn't I."

He felt a slow smile pull at his lips as she went to swat him, a chuckle tumbling out of his mouth before he leaned back in his seat. He shook his head, reaching over to put her seatbelt on before pulling the car out of the parking lot. The heat in the car warmed up his cold and clammy skin, feeling starting to come back in his fingers and nose. He sniffled as he drove down the street to Rachel's house to get her home before curfew, running his hand through his damp curls, feeling her eyes on him as he turned right onto her street.

He pulled the car into the driveway, parking the car and staring out at the front of her house, wondering if her dads were going to rush out and see what kind of boy their daughter had been on a date with. He bit his lip and turned towards her, smiling a little.

"Well, got you home, safe and sound in one piece." Blaine looked down at the sweater. "You can keep it for now, by the way. I'm pretty sure you'd freeze to death without it with the short distance between here and the front door."

He watched her play with one of the buttons before looking up at him. He swallowed, shifting in his seat. He wanted to kiss her...but for some reason he couldn't bring himself to do it. Which was fairly weird for him, since the whole point of this damn bet was to bed her.

"Well, sorry for getting you almost caught by the mall cops that parade our school...and for," A slow smirk covered his face. "For getting you wet." He snorted, avoiding another smack in his direction. "But I hope you had a good time." He caught her hand as she went to take it back for another playful hit. He ran his thumb over her knuckles and smiled before letting her go and get out of the car.

He leaned back into his seat and watched her walk up to her front door, waiting until she was safe inside herself before he pulled out of her driveway to go home. All in all, the non-date date had been a success.


	7. Good Riddance

**Title**: Good Riddance 7/? (Part of: _**Cigarette burned Stars**_ verse)

**Pairing**: blainchel

**Summary**: The green eyed monster rears it's ugly head in Blaine when he sees Rachel dating none other than Jesse St. Dickhead.

**Authors**: civillove (Blaine) & berrywarbler (Rachel)

**Rating**: PG-13

**Author's note**: Like we have to explain who is who, but just in case :P Also blainchel written by blainchel means that it's the best blainchel xoxo  
**Author's note 2: **This reads in RP format because…well it's basically an RP that we're posting as fic. _You're welcome_.

**BLAINE ANDERSON**:

Blaine didn't miss people.

Honestly. He had had enough practice in his life, people leaving him-Cooper, his dad, various parts of his family, friends he once had and thought he might keep, all turned their back on him one point or another. He had learned early on that people just did that, that they could let you down without a moment's thought or consideration. He had learned the hard way to take those sort of things in stride, there was nothing he could do about people who left him-what was he supposed to do? Beg them to come back? Ask them what he had done wrong to make them abandon him? Admit that he wished they had never left him in the first place?

No. He had learned to take life as it was. That there was nothing he could do to change the acts of others. That it probably had little to do with him specifically. That he didn't care enough about changing the past. That it wasn't worth exhausting his effort to secure his future.

He didn't miss people because missing people meant that he cared about people who didn't give a _shit _about him. He didn't miss people because they sure as hell weren't missing him.

So what was the point of all that effort.

Which is why he refused to admit how much he missed Luci.

It had been four days since his date with Rachel, which ironically meant his fight with Luci as well. Two completely different strides that he wished didn't have the same time stamp. It was an awkward set of conflicting emotions-on the one hand he wanted to pat himself on the back for the accomplishment of the successful date with Rachel but then he also wanted to bury his head in the ground like a fucking ostrich for the fight he had had with Luci. The words that had slipped from his mouth in anger still echoed in the back of his head, vibrating his ear drums, the tone and volume of his voice etching the reaction of Luci's face into his line of vision.

_"Just because you have your issues of respect with everyone else in your life doesn't mean you have to group me in with your father." Blaine argued, his words surprising her for a moment. He had struck a nerve, a bad one, he could see it in her eyes, the tears gathering. _

That was a line he shouldn't have crossed.

Luci told him things about her family in confidence. He could tell they were the sorts of things that she didn't tell anyone else. Sort of the duty of a best friend, to hear the things that you'd never utter to other set of company. Blaine knew all about how much Luci didn't get along with her father, or neither of her parents actually. They were fucking hardasses. Always had a stick up their ass about Luci's want to pursue a career in art. Maybe if they took half the time to actually look at their daughter's talented pieces instead of using all of their energy to tell her it was a 'pipe dream' then they'd know she had a real shot at getting somewhere.

Her dad especially didn't respect her; talked to her in a way that made him uncomfortable. He knew how much of an asshole he could be but Luci's dad had a fucking gold medal in disrespecting people.

She wasn't answering his texts or his phone calls...or even a vague amount of innuendos when he managed to catch her before she skittered into a classroom. He was getting tired of this ding-dong-ditch that she kept playing with him; right before he'd get close enough to ring the fucking doorbell and talk to her she'd turn a 180 and avoid him the rest of the day.

It was nearing the end of the day, finally Thursday, finally close enough to the weekend that school didn't feel like so much of a burden on his shoulders or anyone else's. He was supposed to see Rachel after glee, which meant he had a nice slot of an hour and a half to himself in which he could corner Luci in a place he knew she'd be. He needed to fix this.

...not that he was going to admit how much he missed her or how much he had fucked up. But he knew she deserved an apology. And no matter how much he was not interested in admitting how much he actually cared about her...he wasn't about to add another person on a list of those he had lost just because he couldn't keep his asinine comments to himself.

He turned down the hall and pushed open the painting room doors, the large room filled with tall easels facing the light of the large windows to the right of the room. He glanced to his left, looking for the curly redhead that he knew was buried in her work somewhere, probably painting furiously with fiery reds or dark blues. He passed a few easels and glanced at the work still on them from an art class a few periods ago; Luci tended to work most of the time when school ended or on the weekends during the school's weekend programs. She liked having the room to herself, the paint, the light, the silence. She didn't want to be judged by her peers while her paintings were still works in progress.

Blaine found her near the corner of the room near a large window, the direct daylight adding a difference in the color of her paint on the canvas. He could tell the moment she sensed his presence because her shoulders tensed, eyes trained on what she was doing like it needed a lot of concentration...just so she wouldn't look at him.

The silence was an obvious pointed comment that she still wasn't speaking to him.

"Are you ever going to stop being mad at me?" He asked, dragging over a stool from another easel to sit across from her.

She swallowed and dipped her paintbrush in a light green before biting her lip. "That depends, are you ever going to stop being an asshole?"

He smirked, crossing his arms over his chest. "I think we both know the answer to that."

She looked at him briefly. "Then I'm not interested in talking to you." Luci looked away, swishing her paintbrush in murky brown water before drying it on a paper towel. She picked up the mug of water and started walking towards a sink on the other side of the room.

Blaine sighed, his stool creaking as he got up and followed her. "Look," He leaned against the sink as she dumped the water, rinsing it with fresh water from the tap before filling it again. "I didn't mean...to bring up your dad and-"

"And remind me about how much he doesn't give a shit about me, yeah, thanks." She went to turn and head back to her canvas after turning the water off but he gently grasped her elbow and wouldn't let her.

"Yeah, I think we've more than covered that your dad is seriously lacking in the father of the year department but I didn't mean to throw it in your face like that."

Luci swallowed, looking down at his fingers gently wrapped around her skin. "Is that supposed to be an apology?" She asked softly.

Blaine took a step forward and squeezed her arm. "Look at me." He waited until she did, reluctantly lifting her head and fixing light green eyes on him. "I'm _sorry_."

She sighed and he could see her weighing her options in her head, trying to figure out if he was worth forgiving or not. He almost got out that he would make it up to her somehow but before he could say anything, Luci lifted her hand and dumped the cup of water on top of his head. He gasped as warm water covered him, soaking his shirt and dripping into his jeans. His curls were soaked, skin glistening with droplets...he could hear small smirks leaving her mouth and when he opened his eyes again he could see her trying to restrain her laughter.

He shook his head. "Feel better?"

She snorted. "Extremely." He rolled his eyes as she smiled softly, leaning closer to kiss his cheek. "I missed you too, asshole."

Blaine ran his fingers through his hair, shaking it slightly like a shaggy dog after a bath. He watched her refill her cup of water and walk over to her painting. He debated telling her about his date with Rachel...and decided that he should disclose some details to her...just to make sure she knew how close he was getting to sealing the inevitable deal.

**RACHEL BERRY**:

She wasn't quite sure what to expect after her date with Blaine; she had hardly seen him the next day and when Mr. Schuester announced that the next assignment was to work with the word 'hello' to prepare for Regional's after their outstanding win at Sectional's, Rachel headed to the local record shop to search for the perfect song to perform in front of the group.

The last thing Rachel had expected was to run into Jesse St. James, lead vocalist of Vocal Adrenaline and senior over at Carmel High. And while Rachel had come to terms with being smitten over Blaine, she couldn't deny the chemistry and pull she felt towards St. James. He was charismatic and dashing, older and intriguing and as they sang an old Lionel Richie song in the middle of the record shop, Rachel could feel her interest piquing more and more.

For one, he shared her passion and desire for the bright lights of the Broadway stage, even if his graduation would lead him to Los Angeles first. But in a way that no one understood - not Blaine, not Finn - Jesse seemed to comprehend how important it was for her to make it to New York. He even managed to help her with her assignment, suggesting 'Hello Twelve, Hello Thirteen, Hello Love' from _A Chorus Line_ when she invited him over to her house to get better acquainted, the two of them dancing around her room and a smile on her face the whole while. There was the spark she had felt singing with Blaine, the one that seemed to be missing when she performed with Finn, and when he leaned in to kiss her she didn't stop him.

Blaine was hardly on her mind when Jesse shone his bright smile in her direction, and besides - one date hardly counted as meaning they were together, and she knew he'd only have a heart attack if she even suggested such a thing. But Jesse - he wanted to be with her. No hesitation, no questions, letting her know exactly how he felt without her even prodding. All the things Finn and Blaine were afraid of with her - calling her their girlfriend, caring about her and only her - he had no qualms about making sure she knew that was what he wanted.

"He's playing you," Mercedes had said when Rachel confided in some of the glee club about what was happening, their defense up instantly.

"Why would a senior from Carmel want to date...you?" Santana had asked, Brittany giggling at her side and even as they all ganged up on her, she knew she couldn't just...toss Jesse to the side. What she felt for him was real, she just knew it - he was her potential soulmate. He was perfect in every way for her, and she wasn't about to risk losing that just to satiate a group of people who hardly made any sort of effort to pretend tolerating her half the time.

"I'm risking a lot for you," she confided on the stage when she snuck to Carmel to let him know of her so called friends betrayal. "They threatened to kick me out if I don't break up with you."

"It'll be worth it," Jesse promised, hushing her with a soft kiss that warmed her from the inside out. It wasn't timid like Finn or overly passionate like Blaine, but it was caring - loving. And she was proud to be able to call him her boyfriend, even if they had to be silent about it, even if they had to sneak around. He cared for her when they were together, she didn't have to worry about his affections and while she could remember all the words of warning - how he was only playing her to destroy them before Regional's - she pushed them away and chose to focus on the contentment she felt with him.

But Jesse took her by surprise before she could blink; and by the end of the week Rachel was surprised to see him walk straight into the choir room, enemy territory - or so she believed, until Mr. Schuester announced that he had transferred - the papers were clean, and he was truly a member of New Directions as long as he was a student at McKinley.

"Why would you do this?" she asked him, ignoring the incredulous arguments being made against this announcement from the rest of the club; he was the only thing that mattered at the moment and when he looked at her - she could feel it, deep in her bones, that he felt the same towards her.

"We need a real chance, Rachel, and if I'm at Carmel, we wouldn't have one."

Her throat felt dry from all the emotions she couldn't seem to express, but her feet carried her towards him regardless and she wrapped her arms around his waist, hugging him tightly as she whispered a quiet 'thank you', knowing he might not understand the depth of her gratitude she felt.

But he did seem to understand that she was glad he was there, and as they walked out of glee that afternoon, hand in hand, she couldn't help her giggles as he told her of all the things they could do now that they were teammates. Songs they could sing together, how they would inevitably win them Regional's if they were offered a duet - "Our off stage chemistry is sure to travel on stage as well, blowing the judges out of the water with our talent and emotional depth," - and Rachel found herself hanging onto his every word as he leaned against the locker next to hers while she gathered the things she'd need for the weekend.

"Bring me home?" she asked quietly, looking up at him through her eyelashes and he swooped down to cover her with an all encompassing kiss; it burned fire through her skin and left her breathless and gasping for air when they did finally part, her eye's fluttering open to look at him while he stroked the apple of her cheek with his thumb.

"It would be my honor," he promised, kissing her forehead before squeezing her hand. "Let me drop my stuff off at my locker, and then we'll go."

Her smile was wide as she nodded, watching him go before closing her own locker and humming quietly to herself, leaning against it and staring after him, waving back at him as he turned before disappearing behind a corner.

_Boyfriend_, she thought silently to herself, her teeth sinking into her bottom lip to keep herself from giggling aloud.

It was just so much better than she could have imagined.

**BLAINE ANDERSON**:

"So what you're saying is is that you're close?"

Blaine shrugged, helping Luci clean up her art supplies as she finished up her painting. He was personally ready to get out of the damn building, school had been over for a half n hour, all after school activities coming to a close-he wanted to run into Rachel ,set up another date and be done with it. It was bad enough that it was only Wednesday and he'd have to lift another day showing up to this poor excuse as an educational facility all day tomorrow.

"I'd give it two more dates before sealing the deal." He had already spent the last forty minutes filling Luci in on the last date he had had with Rachel and purposely left out all the different swirling emotions that were starting to build up at the mention of the girl in grandma sweaters.

Casualty of fake dates; that's all that was. He couldn't honestly think he was developing real _feelings _for her or anything. Blaine didn't do relationships and he sure as hell didn't do honest emotions.

"Two more dates sounds pretty confident." Luci hummed, glancing at him from the corner of her eye as they left the painting room and started heading down the hall towards their lockers. "You sure that's all you'll need?"

Blaine turned his head and grinned at her. "Trust me, that's all I'll need."

He paused at the end of the hallway with her, glancing down to the corner where the choir room was, where he needed to run into Rachel as Luci pulled things from her locker to head home. He licked his lips and frowned softly when he saw a tall, attractive male walk with Rachel from the choir room to her locker just down the hall a bit. He could barely hear them or see them but he could tell Rachel was laughing, leaning her body closer to whoever the male was, the male peaked and interested, hands lingering on her body and skin.

Something white hot stuck Blaine's belly, making him feel like his blood was boiling under his skin. What the actual _fuck_? He was shooting daggers at the taller male as he kissed Rachel's forehead and disappeared around the corner, leaving a light blush on the girl's cheeks and a kind smile that made his stomach flop.

"You were saying?" Luci asked, raising her eyebrows as Blaine turned his attention back on her. She had obviously caught the small show between Rachel and the mystery male as well.

He rolled his eyes, grumbling something nonsensical before raking his fingers through his curls.

She laughed, shutting her locker and making sure the lock was spun. "You look jealous."

"I'm not jealous." He said, maybe a bit too fast for his liking, the words slipping from his mouth faster than he could control them. "I'm pissed off, he's salting my game."

She smiled slowly, running her hand over his chest and tugging at his slightly damp shirt. "Looks like you're going to lose Anderson."

He glared at her. "Fat chance," He swatted her hand away. "Don't worry about me. I know what I'm doing."

She snorted and glanced down at Rachel before looking back at him. "Sure seems like it." He rolled his eyes as she passed him to head down the hall to her car.

He shifted his back and sighed, walking down the hall to meet her, biting his tongue before he said something nasty about her sickeningly sweet smile plastered all over her face like the blushing virgin that she was.

"Who died in glee club and made you queen of the solos?" He asked, voice slightly clipped. "I'm assuming that's what your shit eating grin is about."

**RACHEL BERRY**:

Her head turned in surprise at the arrival of Blaine, his statement loud and abrasive and she felt the corners of her mouth slip from her smile just slightly before deciding it was just safer if she didn't give in and feed off his bad mood.

"No one," she replied with a simple shrug, turning her head to check once more if Jesse was on his way back yet, "and I already receive the most solos regardless, I am their star after all," she reminded him, a small voice in the back of her mind reminding _her _that he had once said that, that she was the only one with a modicum of talent enough to move past this town and do something with it.

That would change, of course, with Jesse here now as well. His voice was made for the stage as much as her own was, and while he wouldn't steal away her own solos, she was willing to bet he might steal some of her spotlight that she fought tooth and nail for.

"The smile is because my boyfriend," she said cautiously, returning her undivided attention to Blaine and while she knew he tried to keep his face passive, she was able to spot the flicker of surprise in his eyes before he shut it down, "Jesse St. James, just transferred schools to be with me. He was the lead of Vocal Adrenaline, and well - I'm sure you can imagine how well that went over with our - my, that is - glee club. Complete and total overreaction on their part, they threatened to kick me out."

She let out a small sigh, checking for Jesse once more and wondering what, exactly, was taking him so long; she figured he must have gotten lost, having only been in the school for a few hours at most, and it was better to stay put than to wander off and both be moving targets.

"Anyways, now he goes here and he'll be leading the New Directions with me, though Finn may not like that executive decision, but he's hardly been a leader for us anyways. Not without my proper directions, that is."

She knew he didn't really care about any of the words she was saying, that he'd never cared at all for New Directions and his interest in her was bare minimum as it was - however they might have connected on their date, he hadn't called her, hadn't sought her out for days.

"I know this may come as a surprise, given that we did only have a date a few days ago, but you should be relieved, I would assume. Now you don't have to worry about me overreacting and clinging too tightly onto you and I can be marked as just another naive girl who fell into your web, which is all I'm sure you wanted from me in the first place, right?"

**BLAINE ANDERSON**:

If Blaine's learned anything in this short expanse of time in pursuing Rachel fucking Berry it's that when she talks longer than she's supposed to it's because she's trying to convince herself of something and not necessarily the person she's talking to. He just stands there and listens, watching her talk on and on about Jesse St. Dickhead and how he's apparently transferred schools to be with her (anyone who transfers school for _anyone _needs to reach down and grab a hold of their own balls because _seriously_) and how she's over him because this jackass is giving her all the right attention in all the right places.

He's caught between being stunned, annoyed and sort of hurt (which he'd never admit, ever).

He's not quite sure what to say either, so many points where he could have interrupted and put his two pennies in but Rachel is just the type of girl that you just let talk when she gets her engine revving. He choked on a laugh when she finished, shaking his head before running a hand over his face.

"Jesus." He managed to get out before sighing. Where should he even fucking start. "Alright, I'm going to say this once so pay attention...are you honestly so desperate for affection that you'll just...believe anyone who comes up to you and gives you a compliment or, I'm sorry, transfers schools for you? And here I thought Finn Hudson was the resident dumbass of this school, come on Rachel, _seriously_?"

He couldn't stop a smile from spreading over his face at the sheer ridiculousness of her entire so called speech.

"He's the lead, pay attention to my present tense, of Vocal Adrenaline and you just...let him into your glee club without a second thought as to what his ulterior motives might be...no wonder people don't want you to be the lead of the club. Why don't you just spread your legs and offer him something as precious as a first place National's trophy because that's essentially what you're handing him right now I'm sure he'll take your virginity as well if it's on the menu."

Blaine shifted on his feet, adjusting his satchel over his shoulder before glancing back down at the small girl in front of him, debating on whether he should just give up the bet entirely because fighting for Rachel at this point was becoming more of a hassle than anything else.

"Oh, trust me, I'm not surprised." He said, his fingers curling around his strap of his bag, referring to her last paragraph of an explanation. "Like I said, I just thought you were more confident than that to roll over and play dead the moment some other guy gives you any attention."

He wanted to feel anything other than this...fucking strange hole of _ache _in the center of his chest at her accusations about him being relieved, that he was just using her (because Jesus Christ, he _was_) but for some reason he felt the need to argue that she was much more than that. That this was more than his regular conquests.

And maybe it was for the sake of the bet or something else, he didn't try to justify his next sentence, but it came out anyways. "I can't believe you thought our date was some way for me to get into your pants." He said softly, looking down and avoiding her eyes, hurt seeping into the tone of his voice. "You know, you're the first girl I've ever taken out on a date."

And that was true, at least.

He licked his lips, brushing his bruised ego aside before shaking his head. "But hey, do what you want. _I _sure didn't transfer schools to get an in on your glee club or anything." He pointed out. "And if that's what it takes to acquire someone's affections I'll be sure to get my transcripts together."

**RACHEL BERRY**:

Rachel could feel a bubble of anger boiling inside of her, listening to his accusations about Jesse. And she wanted to interject, that the papers were clean and he had moved in with his aunt and uncle and there was no way he was spying on the New Directions - his transfer here would only hurt Vocal Adrenaline, without him they were nothing and the New Directions were hardly a threat enough to sabotage in the first place. And the state of her virginity - well, that wasn't for Blaine to comment on in the first place. It was hers, after all, to give to whomever she so chose, and if it ended up being Jesse than Blaine would never need to know.

It wasn't like she had been considering Blaine a valuable option for that as it was. He had been different, a way to shake up her routine and an attempt at making Finn jealous and really, nothing more, even if her heart seemed to want to form some sort of attachment to him. It was circumstantial, that was all, and as she fell deeper in love with Jesse she was sure it would come to pass.

And all of her arguments were right on the brim of her lips, prepared to fall out and spill between them, surely to escalate into a fight that they didn't need before he took her by surprise, his tone and words stopping her cold as she stared at him in slight shock. Because while she had figured he didn't normally put as much work into getting a girl to get with him as he had with Rachel, she had assumed there had been dates in the past.

But she was his first, in a way, in something new and different, just as much as he was hers, and there was a small jolt in her stomach as the realization settled in deep inside of her. Because no matter what he said, she would be there in some way forever. Years from now, when he recalled his first real date - it would be her, and her name and her face that came to mind. And all her arguments seemed to dissipate with his simple small admission.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly, his head snapping back up to face her as he rolled his eyes, armour back in place and she fought off a deep sigh. "But you never called, or texted, or made any inclination that you wanted it to be more than a one time thing. And Jesse and I - he's perfect for me. He's talented and has the same dreams and he can help us win National's, because he _is _on our side."

"I didn't ask for him to come waltzing in at the same time as you, but I never expected you to be an option either," she reminded him, reaching out to touch his arm gently before he took a step back, her arm falling between them, "I won't turn away Jesse just because we broke into the school and had dinner once, Blaine. And something tells me you're not into the conventional thing anyways, the labels and hand holding and the whole nine yards a girl like me needs."

**BLAINE ANDERSON**:

Blaine shook his head, taking a step back from her when she tried to touch him. If there was anything worse than placating comments it was when people tried to touch him and say them too, like that touch would somehow make everything fucking better. 'Sorry, Blaine, you just weren't good enough but here let me touch your arm and squeeze you tight and let you know it'll be okay one of these days'. He glared at her, crossing his arms over his chest like some sort of shield so she wouldn't try and do it again, though he figured she had the point by now.

"Apparently you've been on less dates than I have," He snapped. "I wasn't aware I was supposed to be up your ass day two after our date begging you to go out with me again."

He was going to tell her that he had been coming down the hall to meet her and ask her for another date but it seemed pointless now to even mention it. If she was so in love with Jesse then she'd just have to learn that she was a fucking dumbass on her own. He tried to warn her, he could see through him like a piece of cheap plastic, so transparent...and Rachel would have been able to see it too if her desperation for something more hadn't been getting in the way.

He swallowed thickly when she mentioned how he wasn't conventional, how he probably wouldn't be into the labels and hand holding and, what, did she mean being polite and boyfriend like because he could do those things-had she ever stopped to _think _about why he never considered giving it a chance? Why stick around for something that was never going to pan out? Why depend on something that might not work? Why put his trust in someone when people always found their way to leave, or break a promise, or lie and cheat _anyways-_

"Well maybe I would have been into it for you." The words rush out of his mouth before he can stop them, surprising them both and he has to look away before something that feels a lot like blush started to cover his skin.

Fucking Christ.

He's just about to make a quick exit because since _when _does he say pansy shit like that and actually, almost, means it but jackass central is making his way down the hall, a beeline for Rachel and him and he's rooted on the spot suddenly, something like set determination set in his eyes at the sight of Jesse's threatened stance.

He sighed softly, knows he's going to regret this, but when he looked at Rachel he can tell she's conflicted-isn't sure whether she wants him to go or not...so he doesn't. Blaine bit down hard on his lower lip, shifting on his feet momentarily as Jesse meets them both.

**RACHEL BERRY**:

Rachel felt rooted to her spot, unsure of how to even respond to something like that. There was no way she really thought he would go beyond his comfort zone for her; getting a date from him alone had seemed like the most she would receive, and while she had had fun, despite the cold she had felt in her bones from being pushed in the pool and the fear she had felt when they were sneaking through the school, there wasn't even the slightest chance of more.

Or so she had thought.

"I - " she started, though she had no idea how she was going to end that before Jesse appeared at her side once more, his arm slipping around Rachel's waist easily and while she hadn't told Jesse about Blaine, she knew he was smart enough to pick up on the tension between the two of them, that there was something more than just sort of friends discussing nothing more than a school assignment.

"Jesse St. James," Jesse said, holding out his hand for Blaine to shake and while Blaine had a scowl on his face, he took the offer, Rachel chewing on her lip as she watched both boys grip far harder than necessary for a simple handshake. "I take it you're a friend of Rachel's?"

"We have a class together," Rachel explained before Blaine could get a word in, giving Jesse her best smile and trying to go back to even ten minutes prior when she had been on cloud nine, happy and falling in love with the perfect guy, before Blaine had done what he _always _did and threw her completely for a loop. "Blaine is in my chemistry class, he's in my grade so you probably won't see him much around."

"Is he not in the glee club?" Jesse asked, though his eyes never left Blaine's form, and she could feel how Jesse was slowly moving her closer to his side, pinning her against him - claiming her, marking her, and she suddenly wasn't as happy about that as she probably should have been.

"Blaine doesn't like after school activities," she waved away, "he just came to ask me a question about a test coming up, but we're done here," she said, turning her own gaze to Blaine. She didn't really want to be done, she wanted to find out more of what he had meant but - with Jesse there, so predatory, she knew they couldn't continue their conversation.

Guilt wound through her; she shouldn't want to have conversations with boys alone without her boyfriend, she knew, especially not one who put in so much effort just to get her to trust them, but she knew she wouldn't be able to get Blaine's words out of her head - no matter how hard she tried.

**BLAINE ANDERSON**:

Blaine raised his eyebrows at the hand stretched out towards him. And for a long moment he just simply stared at it, wondering what the fuck he was supposed to do-and if it hadn't been for Rachel standing there, looking at him expectantly, he would have probably told St. James to take his hand and shove it where the sun didn't shine. But instead he gripped the hand tighter than he should have, satisfied at the small wince tugging at the other's mouth.

"Utterly charmed." He smiled, letting go of his hand and sticking them in his jeans.

If there was anything he hated more than Rachel talking for ten minutes straight it was Rachel talking _for _him. Three times he tried to open his mouth to speak but she wasn't letting him get a word in. She covered his name, the fact that he wasn't a friend but just a classmate in her chemistry class and that he wasn't in glee club, that he had no time for extracurricular activities. He shook his head, biting on his tongue hard enough to bleed. Obviously she was trying to make her point clear, to him or Jesse though he wasn't sure, she was insistent in the fact that they were nothing, not even friends but chemistry classmates, talking about an upcoming test.

Well fine, if she wanted to play that fucking game he'd put his piece on the board.

He waited a moment, her eyes looking at him expectantly after she finished talking. "Oh, I'm sorry, I thought you were still speaking for me, you were on roll." He licked his lips. "But yeah, don't worry, we're definitely done." He said, eyes flickering to hers, hidden meaning behind them and talking about _more _than just a finished conversation.

He usually never backed down from a challenge but this was quickly becoming something that just wasn't fucking worth it. All of this..._tension_ just to get in a girl's pants? There had to be a better fucking way to spend his goddamn time.

Blaine shifted his bag on his shoulder and turned to pass Rachel and Jesse to walk down the hall.

**RACHEL BERRY**:

Rachel watched him go, unable to form even a single cry of his name to call him back to her with Jesse so tightly clung to her side; Jesse himself only chuckled quietly before kissing her cheek, muttering about how strange the kids at McKinley were as he led her out to his car waiting outside.

And it was just like that, a switch had been flipped on Jesse's arrival at McKinley. Tainted with the wondering of what could have been with Blaine, if he would have rose to the occasion and become the boyfriend she had never expected, her mind wandering to the darker haired boy more often than it should have when she was with Jesse.

Blaine's words nagged at her, too often and too deep, _done_ running on a loop through her head. She wasn't dumb enough to miss the implications of what he had meant with that, and even if she had clung onto a blind hope that she was wrong, the fact that he seemed to completely disappear from her life was enough of an indicator that she was right.

She tried to focus on Jesse, giving him her full attention and as much of her heart as she could allow. It wasn't all of it, not by any means, but it was more than she had given Finn, more than she'd given Blaine, and she trusted him more than anyone said she should have. But he was there, day in and day out, spinning her around in glee rehearsals and walking her to class, sneaking quick kisses between lunch and the period following, spending their afternoons in her bedroom progressing much quicker than she might have expected - not that she was allowing too much, despite Jesse's suggestions that they should.

But as wonderful a boyfriend as he was, winning her small toys at fairs and taking her to concerts and movies, there was something missing when it came to their physical relationship. He was a good kisser, certainly, and she enjoyed the way his hands would try and slip up her blouses, or the way his thumb would graze the inside of her thigh at the hem of her skirts, but she wouldn't allow anymore than that. The last time she had even considered it, it had been for Blaine and things had just -

Blown up in her face.

Jesse told her he was fine with waiting, that he was respectful and a gentleman and that she deserved more romance than that, but even as he said the words she knew she could be everything he wanted her to be, if only she had the proper closure.

Tracking Blaine down was not an easy feat, it never was, but she finally found him in an abandoned stairwell during the middle of a class period one day, leaning against the wall and looking for all intents and purposes like he had been waiting for her, and she stomped her foot to gather his attention so that he would finally look at her.

"I think you owe me an explanation, Blaine Anderson, and a damn good one at that."

**BLAINE ANDERSON**:

Luci was surprisingly easy on him for admitting that he was quitting the bet, and for the life of him he couldn't figure out why. He expected her to be smug, grinning ear to ear even, skipping to and fucking fro letting him know what he owed her for quitting before gaining Rachel Berry's virginity.

But all she had done was make a non-committed noise and nod her head, turning to stick her nose back in the book she had been reading before Blaine interrupted her.

"Aren't you going to shove your winning streak in my face?" He had asked, almost as if he wanted her to.

"I figure you've made an ass out of yourself already, why pile it on even more?" She argued, not even looking up from her book to speak to him.

There were some days he was pretty sure he was in love with her and last week had definitely been one of those days.

After the bet had seemingly run it's course, Blaine went back to his ways before he had set the deal into place, which meant skipping class more often than not, flirting with any girl who even looked in his direction and giving Luci his full attention, teasing out sessions of heavy making out leading to more any time he could. It wasn't so much that he was taking advantage of her that he was just...letting her take them as far as she would allow. And she seemed to get her rocks off by kissing in the hallway at school, purposely in front of people's lockers, counting in her head to see how long it'd take before they got pissed off, Blaine smiling against her lips and sliding his hands into her hem of her skirt-and if they just so happened to be caught by Rachel and her new fucking boyfriend walking down the hall then so be it.

After all, he wasn't dating material anyways, was he?

Why should he care if Rachel saw him with Luci?

He knew the moment he stopped showing up to Chemistry was when she'd try and seek him out, and like clockwork she appeared, managing to find him in an abandoned staircase near the gym that was only used for fire drills-so naturally he chose there as a perfect place to light up.

Blaine flicked the ashes off his cigarette, glancing up as Rachel stopped her foot like an impatient toddler. He licked his lips. "I don't owe you jack shit, Berry." He snapped before taking a long drag.

He stood up and cracked his back, lacing his fingers through his unkempt curls, licking his lips and walking down the few steps so he was eye level with her before taking a seat on the next to last step.

"Is that all, because I'm busy and I'm sure you have a class or a boyfriend to get to." He muttered, not in the mood to argue with her or talk or do whatever that had brought her to stand in front of him. He glanced down at his cellphone after pulling it from his cardigan pocket, wondering if Luci was meeting him after her painting class or beforehand.

**RACHEL BERRY**:

"Yes, you do," she snapped back, watching as he brushed past her, clearly trying to signal that he wasn't prepared to give her the time of day; his attitude was infuriating, it wasn't like she had done this on purpose. How was she supposed to know that the boy who didn't _do _dating and girlfriends and hand holding had wanted to make her his? How was she supposed to be prepared for him to decide he would try with her when he hadn't let her know that in the first place - it was enough to return the fire and anger back into her system, the kind she needed to just get him to talk to her, to be straight with her - to let her go.

"You're pissed I started dating Jesse," she said, moving lower until she was standing in front of him, a few steps below so they were eye to eye, "I get it. You're jealous, and upset, and those are perfectly natural things to feel - but I had no idea you would feel them, Blaine. I hardly know you and all I see is this persona you show off half the time, the bad boy you want everyone to think you are so they'll leave you alone."

"So you're getting back at me by, what, making out with Luci between classes when you know I'll see you?" she asked, keeping the slight hurt out of her tone from that - because she had seen them, more than once, had paused in the hallway and had to recollect herself before inevitably walking the other way, a stab in her gut that said it should have been her causing physical agony until Jesse would reappear once more - "you'll completely ignore my existence, throw me away like everyone else?"

"If I was really anything more than just some girl in a line up, you could have done something to prove it, Blaine," she snapped, stomping her foot once more and while this hadn't been what she had wanted to tell him - not even in the slightest, had wanted to clear the air and walk away with her head held high - it was all the thoughts she had kept hidden so deep inside she would refuse to acknowledge them even in the darkest hours. "You didn't have to walk away and say we were done, did you, you didn't have to let me choose Jesse. You took yourself out as a choice and you have no one to blame but yourself."

**BLAINE ANDERSON**:

Blaine watched her walk up to him and he flicked his cigarette ash off the tip of his canister, smiling softly as she took a step back to avoid the sprinkle of gray along her bright yellow rain boots. His eyes trailed over her form, shamelessly taking in the longness of her legs with her tiny skirt and bright red tights. He rubbed the side of his neck with his other hand, eyes flickering up to hers as she continued her speech about him being hurt and jealous. He rolled his eyes and scoffed, taking a long drag as he refused to jump to his own aid to defend himself. He shouldn't have to. Jealous of that nimrod, _please_. That was like being jealous of used toilet paper. He didn't have to prove himself, he _knew _he was better than Jesse St. Jackass, and to be honest he found it offensive at the prospect of trying to make Rachel understand that. She should have known better, honestly. Even though he wasn't the conventional type of boy, it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that Jesse was a snake, a poisonous one-but low and behold the whining he'd have to suffer through when Rachel would eventually get bit.

And she would. It was only a matter of time.

He raised his eyebrows as she brought up Luci, a hint of a smile gracing his lips, pulling them into a familiar smirk.

"Please, those so called shows aren't for you. I know this is a very hard concept for you to grasp, but not everything I do has to do with you." He licked his lips. "Luci's..." _Convenient_. "She's there. She's _always _there and lucky for me she's incredibly sexy and has no problem locking lips. So I'm sorry if it _hurts _you in some way but..." He shrugged. "'Frankly, my dear, I just don't give a damn'".

He went to turn around and head up the stairs to the roof but her next sentence about throwing her away made him whirl back around and point at her.

"Oh, you mean like how _you _tried to throw _me _away?" He asked, voice clipped. "I'm just some classmate, right? Chemistry 101, how about that test on Friday, Rachel?" He scoffed. "Please. I'm not doing anything you haven't done and newsflash, this is just _how I am._ Stop trying to make me out into this better person because I took you out on one fucking date that meant nothing. Stop trying to turn me into someone that I'm not." His voice vibrated against the emptiness of the stairwell.

Blaine shook his head, dropping his cigarette to toe out with his boot. "I don't have to prove anything to you." He said, voice slightly calmer than before, running his fingers through his curls. "So if you want to blame someone, blame yourself. I'm not the one who squashed whatever this is," He pointed to the space between the both of them, "before it even started." He laughed but the sound wasn't funny, it was choked in his throat. "You couldn't even acknowledge to your so called boyfriend that we'd been out on a date. You were _ashamed _of me to the point where I was just some asshole in your chemistry class."

He swallowed and looked away, thumbing the pocket of his jeans, trying to decide whether he should light up another cigarette or meet Luci after her History class. The bell was going to ring any minute.

"I took myself out as a choice?" He asked her and scoffed. "I wasn't even a choice to begin with."

Blaine passed her roughly, his shoulder knocking into hers as the bell rang. He opened the door and let it slam closed, the sound echoing was the only thing that kept Rachel company.


	8. Opening Up

**Title**: Opening Up 8/? (Part of: _**Cigarette burned Stars**_ verse)

**Pairing**: blainchel

**Summary**: Weeks after his fight with Rachel, he runs into her after school. She's upset about something that has to do with her mother-and Blaine can't understand after all this drama why he can't just walk away from her like he's told himself he should.

**Authors**: civillove (Blaine) & berrywarbler (Rachel)

**Rating**: PG-13

**Author's note**: Like we have to explain who is who, but just in case :P Also blainchel written by blainchel means that it's the best blainchel xoxo  
**Author's note 2: **This reads in RP format because…well it's basically an RP that we're posting as fic. _You're welcome_.

****

RACHEL BERRY:

The sting of rejection had hit her cold and hard the day Blaine walked away from her, leaving her absolutely no closure and therefore no way to really move forward with Jesse. He had understood, even when she broke down and explained what had happened - that Blaine was more than just some guy in her chemistry class, that before Jesse had come along they were bordering on almost dating, that she had tried to trust him enough with her heart to have a part of it splinter and break in his hands with his steadfast refusal to speak to her anymore.

Jesse hadn't been pleased at the admission, she was sure; she could see the way he glared in Blaine's direction sometimes when they passed one another in the hallway, could feel how much more possessive his kisses were when Blaine was walking by - but it had needed to be done. For the sake of closure, if nothing else, even if she still didn't feel like they'd gotten any. Despite his harsh words and the hurt they'd unintentionally inflicted upon one another, she didn't feel like they were as done as he claimed for them to be.

But her mind was quickly distracted when someone came to talk to the glee club about dreams a few weeks later, Jesse arguing that her dream of being on a Broadway stage was nothing more than an inevitability. And it had taken a lot for her to admit that there was another thing that nagged at her, in the dead of night if she couldn't sleep, that kept her wondering and wishing and hoping that one day she'd get answers to questions she wasn't sure how to ask.

"I'd like to know who my mom is," she had admitted with a careless shrug, as if it wasn't that important to her, but Jesse knew, just as he always did, that it was. That this was something big and scary and downright traumatizing if handled the wrong way, but he pushed her forward anyways, helping her rummage through old boxes from her childhood until he unearthed a tape with the simple label: _to daughter, from mother_.

Her stomach had dropped out of her abdomen at the simple script, her fingers running over the letters over and over even after she kicked Jesse out for the afternoon. Her mother was there, that close, and she couldn't seem to find a way to listen to it. Fears and paranoia swept through her; what if she sang? what if she was bad? what if she was better than her? what if the woman on the tape was everything Rachel would never admit she wanted in a mother, and she'd disappeared off the face of the earth for good?

It was all simply too much, and she had become determined never to listen to it until the day Jesse walked in, preparing the tape and forcing it upon her, reminding her that it was for her own good with a soft kiss, one that lingered on her lips with a sense of foreboding she couldn't quite place, her brow furrowed as she sank to the carpet of her floor, wrapping her arms around her knees as she listened and sang along to the woman's voice playing from the small speakers.

And she was good, so talented and Rachel couldn't do anything more than cry that this was all happening too fast for her - she didn't know how to cope, how to function and process all this, and the only saving grace was that she at least hadn't been confronted with the woman face to face -

Until she was.

Shelby Corcoran was nothing like she had imagined, but everything she could see in herself at the same time.

She was wildly talented, overbearingly demanding and despite Rachel's best efforts, emotionally unavailable. She had gone to her for help with her Lady Gaga outfit, spilled to her all of her secrets and wishes and dreams and hoped for even just a little bonding, for Shelby to open up to her as Rachel so desperately needed her to. But an entire afternoon together working and sewing together her costume and rendered her with nothing more than a black and white dress, ignoring the sting that was settling in already as she paraded around school in her costume.

The glee club didn't say a word about the situation when she was around, though she knew they were even more skeptical about Shelby than they were Jesse, but the intensity of it seemed to keep them quiet and all she really wanted was someone to confide in - someone she could trust with her innermost thoughts and questions about it, who wasn't involved in the situation at all -

Fate would have, of course, thrown her for a loop when she ran into no one other than Blaine loitering outside the empty hall where the entrance to the school stage was, her hands pulling absentmindedly at her costume as she tried to approach the doors he was sitting in front of without speaking to him, unsure if she wanted his help or not - if she wanted him to notice that she was running away to give her mind a few minutes rest from her unease or not.

**BLAINE ANDERSON**:

He hadn't spoken to Rachel in weeks and everything had, really, gone back to the order he was used to. He skipped class, especially Chemistry, and only attended the bare minimum when Luci would get on his ass about it. One of the perks of being a pretty good student was that he could skip classes more times than not and the one time he'd show up it was like he had never left in the first place-he had an uncanny ability to pick up where he'd left of, easily filling in the ground work of the classes he had missed in a single bound. The look of shock on teacher's faces who wanted to fail him when he easily completed work he missed and managed to end up ahead of the class the one day he showed up was more than worth it.

He spent more time with Luci. Like that was even a surprise, but ever since he didn't have to worry about Rachel's jealousy with his best friend or planning his next move or next fucking date left him with a lot of free time-which Luci gladly soaked up like a sponge. The only thing that was honestly disappointing with his countless hours of new free time was that Luci refused to go the distance with him-he supposed he thought that would change eventually but apparently she was on the bandwagon that if he wanted to have sex with her that it'd be her and only her.

And how could he honestly fucking do that, didn't she understand that the prospect of remaining a duo with someone (even if it had been just for a date) had blown up in his goddamn face?

"I'm not sucking your cock unless I know no one else is, that's fucking disgusting, Blaine."

He had rolled his eyes and shot her the finger...and then tried to get into her panties ten minutes later. So close to that end goal he could practically taste it but every damn time she threw a flag on the play, and stopped him.

Which he supposed, when he wasn't being an impatient horny asshole, he could understand.

The last thing he wanted to do was fuck up their friendship, because apparently Luci was the only one who was going to stick around and be there for him no matter how much he didn't deserve it and no matter how many countless times he fucked up. He had to learn how to appreciate that and appreciate her-he knew he wasn't doing the best bang up job of that lately, and no matter how much he hated to admit it but Rachel was sort of right. He was using Luci just to fill the empty spaces that Berry had ripped out of him. He had been embarrassed and ashamed and hurt and making out with Luci sometimes made him forget that, made him forget how much he had humiliated himself in admitting that he might actually have true feelings and care for someone other than himself. He'd argue that he cared about Luci, which he did, but he really had a hard fucking time at showing it.

He had to work on that or something.

The longest part of his day was waiting for Luci to get done with her extra curricular painting class and he waited lazily against the auditorium doors, throwing a hacky sac up in the air and catching it between his fingers. He hummed a slow tune, glancing up as he saw a rush of black and white start past him, eyebrows raising as he realized it was Rachel Berry in that short provocative dress combo. Some kind of mask was on her face, sort of a crazy design...no doubt something for that damn glee club and it's debacle song assignment for the week.

"You look like a walking, talking checkerboard." He smirked, smile fading slightly from his lips as he took in her face. "What's the matter?" -not that he cared or should be confused with caring...honestly. He didn't...he was just curious.

**RACHEL BERRY**:

She paused slightly, her fingers curled around the handle that let her into the auditorium as she glanced over at him, and for a second she thought - maybe. Maybe she should have given him more of a chance, let him in, not given into the rumors and assumptions when he'd done nothing but prove them wrong over and over as it was.

Maybe, just possibly, they could start over - as friends, if nothing else - but his mask slipped back into place and the hint of concern she'd seen was gone before she could really pin it down to anything. And it was so dumb, really, because she knew just as well as he did that she wasn't any other girl to him, and while she might not have been Luci - the girl he was still, continually, constantly making out with anywhere Rachel would run into them - she was still Rachel, and she was still important, and all she ever wanted was for him to acknowledge that for her.

"Nothing," she lied instead, because he shouldn't get to know every little detail of her life if he wouldn't put forth the effort into proving himself worth her time anymore, and she tried to walk into the wings of the stage alone but she heard him trail after her anyways, though he refused to say anything and it only infuriated her even more.

"Why do you even care what's wrong?" she snapped without turning to look at him, turning on enough lights that the stage was visible while the rest of the auditorium was shrouded in darkness, "you haven't said a word to me since you left me in that stairwell, and you've made your point that I wasn't that important in the first place."

"Besides, don't you have a girlfriend or a class to skip to get to?" she said in a mocking tone, throwing his own words back in his face as she spun on her heel to face him.

**BLAINE ANDERSON**:

Blaine sighed as Rachel opened fired on him, not letting him get a word in edgewise for the five minutes straight that she spoke to him. He should have seen that one coming-she looked pissed off, upset to say the least, and of course she was going to explode on the one person who asked her if she was alright. Typical that it had to be him. Although knowing Rachel it was probably his fault that she was upset in the first place.

He put his hands up in front of his chest like that alone could protect him from her words (or maybe if she started throwing punches) and let her finish snapping at him before he tried to talk.

He bristled at what she had said about that day on the abandoned staircase and he wanted to defend himself, to say that he never would have _stopped _talking to her if it wouldn't have been for her jumping when that bag of dicks held a treat above her nose. That she was the one who gave up on them first, on _him_. He didn't owe her shit and he sure as hell didn't owe her an explanation. She was done with him the moment something shinier walked through those doors, the moment someone more put together than Blaine, more talented, more caring, more _everything_.

He clamped his mouth closed, not touching that one with a ten-foot pole. No. This wasn't about him, this was about something else. If he had learned anything about Rachel it was that she lashed out at other people when she felt backed into a corner-even if she was mad at him about the past week she was just attacking him because something was wrong with _her_. He took in her appearance, the ridiculous dress, her tired watery eyes and fuck no-no, he didn't have time for this.

Blaine scoffed at the final blow, oh so original of her. "My so called girlfriend is in a painting class right now. I got no classes to skip, I'm all yours." He smiled slowly, though that just seemed to piss her off more so than before.

She was facing him now and he could see her resolve crumbling as he stepped closer, trying to figure out how close he could actually get without her hitting him. He managed to move right in front of her, reaching up to take these black and white square glasses off her face, smiling softly at the curls in her hair, touching one with his fingers.

"You look pretty." He said softly, licking his lips. "What's wrong?" He asked again. "If I didn't care I wouldn't bother asking you." He pointed out.

**RACHEL BERRY**:

Rachel watched him move apprehensively, her arms crossed over her chest as he slowly walked towards her as if she would lunge and break him the second he moved even an inch too close. She wouldn't, of course - she wasn't really upset with him, not at the moment. Not even at all, really, because she could understand why he had been avoiding her, why they had stopped talking as soon as Jesse came around. But that didn't mean she had to like it, that she hadn't missed him. That she hadn't wanted him around to talk to.

Her eyes opened wide at his compliment, his fingers brushing against brunette curls before he withdrew his hand, just enough to tap the bottom of her chin and force her to look up at him, and she could feel herself breaking. Blaine didn't care about anyone, not really, not outside of Luci but she could see in his eyes that he was concerned about her, more concerned than Jesse seemed to be with all his pushing of helping her find her mother, and she couldn't help but break as it all seemed to push her over the edge.

If he had been anyone else, her instinct would have been to wrap her arms around him, to hide her face in his chest and cry until she couldn't remember what it was she was even crying about. But things were still so hesitant between the two of them that she couldn't seem to do it, instead hiding her face in her hands as the tears started to fall, shaking her head as if that would stop the inevitable as he said a quiet, "Whoa, hold on, talk to me" the words beginning to pour out before she could even stop them.

"My mom - my birth mom - she found me, or I found her or - I don't even know, but she's here now and I've wanted to know her for so long, to learn from her and she's perfect, Blaine, she loves Broadway and she's talented and she's running Vocal Adrenaline and there's so much that only she can teach me and I don't think - "

She was only cut off by the need for air, her breath gasping as his arms wound around her, pulling her against him so that she could lean on him physically, her eyes squeezing shut tight as he ran a gentle hand down her back, trying to quiet her.

"I don't think she wants me," she admitted quietly, the words finally escaping her with a choked off sob, the very thing she was terrified of admitting to lest it come true, the very thing she couldn't stop thinking about with every moment of silence Shelby met her with.

**BLAINE ANDERSON**:

He wasn't prepared for her to actually _tell _him what had happened.

Blaine honestly figured it would have been like any other conversation between them during the past week; her death glaring at him like she wanted him to burst into flames on the spot or telling him to kindly fuck off. He wondered why she wasn't telling Jesse all of this, wasn't this supposed to be his job now or something to be there for Rachel? Not that he didn't mind, gladly, taking his place...but he guessed he just wondered what had happened with Rachel to allow her to open up to him like this when she hadn't been giving him the time of day. Didn't she have anyone to confide to? Was he her last choice? Or was he the only one she felt like she could go to.

Whatever the reason, he pulled off his sweater and wrapped it around her slender and bare shoulders before tugging her into his chest when she started to cry around her words. Her body was shaking with the force of sobs building in her chest that she refused to release, his hands rubbing her spine trying to coax her into just letting them go. Blaine sighed softly and closed his eyes, resting his chin on top of her head as she cried into his neck, talking about her birth mom. He bit his lip, body absorbing her cries as best as he could, the force of them shaking his own body. He stroked her hair and played with the curls between his fingers, pulling her closer to lean against him as it felt like her legs might give out from under her.

He knew he shouldn't have, based on principle alone and the fact that her damn boyfriend should have been doing this, he kissed her head, pulling back a little so he could look at her face.

"Listen to me," He said calmly, hands cupping her face to remove tear tracks with his thumbs. His heart clenched in his chest at seeing her so broken, a crack in her unbelievably strong armor, something he honestly admired her for but would never tell her. "I know something about parents who don't care about their kids." He bit his lip and shook his head. "That's not what's going on here, understand?"

He waited until she nodded and smiled a little when a hiccup sounded from her pretty pink lips. He sighed and dug in his back pocket for a tissue, handing it to her while he adjusted his sweater tighter around her body.

"She may have given you up when you were little but I'm sure she had a good reason. And the point is to not...think about then but worry about now. She's your _mother_," He squeezed her shoulders. "There's no way that she wouldn't want to get to know you. She may be hesitant but..." He curled her hair around her ear. "She wouldn't pass this up...unless she was incredibly stupid...which I doubt, seeing as how you're kinda smart." He winked, making her smile.

He tapped her nose with his finger. "Now stop crying, you're breaking my heart." He said playfully, stroking her collarbone with his thumbs.

**RACHEL BERRY**:

She couldn't stop the tears from falling once they'd started; she simply buried her face in his chest and let out everything she had, incoherent mumbling against the fabric of his teeshirt while he wrapped his sweater around her. He was more comforting than she had given him credit for; it took a few minutes, of course, but soon enough she was at least subdued enough to stop sobbing, his palms cradling her face while his thumbs tried to erase her tears.

"Thank you," she said quietly, her fingers pulling lightly at the hem of his teeshirt before she rested her head on his shoulder, taking advantage of the affection he was showing her while she could. She didn't know how long it would last, after all, and while she should rightfully be running into Jesse's arms, there was something about Blaine that centered her. Even when he was pulling her out of her carefully constructed bubble, he steadied her and she wasn't about to question it.

"I didn't mean to cry all over you," she said after a minute, his fingers tugging lightly through her curls as he hummed, the vibration ringing through his chest where her palm lay innocently, "but I appreciate that you let me - that you were there for me. Even after - "

"Don't worry about it," he cut her off, before she could really address the very reasons they shouldn't have been standing as they were at the moment. She would worry about it though, eventually - when Jesse came around again and she had to figure out why she couldn't open up to him the way she had Blaine, why she couldn't cry on his shoulder like she was with Blaine, but for now she could put all those questions to the side.

"Regardless," she said quietly, pulling back enough to try and wipe her face clear of the tears that still gathered, albeit silently, at the corner of her eyes, trying to take a breath deep enough to steady herself once more.

"Why don't I take you home?" he offered, and it was like seeing an entirely different person in front of her, someone she could trust and lean on and all the various sides of Blaine she'd never given him a chance to show her before she ran off with Jesse. She nodded, a weak smile on her face and his lips brushed against her forehead in a soft kiss before he linked his arm around her waist, her eyes fluttering closed at the brief contact before letting him lead her to his car and away from the school, away from the stress, away from all the things she didn't want to think about.


End file.
